Lack of time or lack of planning?

Circulatory diseases are the main cause of death or sequelae worldwide, the main ones being heart attacks and strokes. It is widely known and studied that their main causes are fully preventable or controllable physical and psychological factors, related to the adoption and maintenance of healthier lifestyle habits (learn more about these habits at https://icaro.med.br/15habitos/). In the physical sphere, inflammation plays a crucial role that bad lifestyle habits can bring about and maintain. On the psychological side, stress is the biggest culprit, directly or indirectly, in affecting human health or keeping people ill.

Acute stress, experienced for short periods of time, plays a fundamental role in the body, allowing it to adapt to new situations and resolve them. However, chronic stress, sustained over a prolonged period, puts the body in a constant state of alert, resulting in profound neuroendocrine changes. This leads the body and mind to exhaustion due to the excessive consumption of nutrients, the lack of adequate replenishment of these nutrients and the absence of sufficient rest to recover. In other words, the stressed person demands more and more from their body, without providing the necessary conditions of energy, nutrients and rest to cope with the growing demand.

So, you may be asking yourself: “But Icarus, didn't you mention earlier that most of the factors that lead to circulatory diseases are entirely preventable and controllable? Isn't stress one of them?” Yes, that's true... The big issue is that stress management has become one of humanity's main challenges in recent decades. This is because, in a simplified form for this analysis, we are constantly under pressure to be more productive (both by society and by ourselves) and to find quick solutions to all problems. In this unbridled quest, we often claim that we are facing a lack of a simple resource: TIME.

Solving problems takes time; producing takes time. However, many people forget that it is the human organism that produces and resolves impasses, and when it is out of balance, it is unable to fulfill these missions and is also susceptible to falling ill. The most common mistake is not taking the time to meet the basic needs of the body and mind. Many people mistakenly consider that devoting time to this is a waste of time that could be used to work harder, solve more problems and produce more. In other words, when under stress, people often neglect essential aspects of their health. They don't hydrate properly, they don't eat properly, they don't exercise, they don't get enough rest and they even breathe shallowly. What's more, they often fail to seek support from health professionals such as doctors, nutritionists and psychologists as often as they should. All this because they believe they don't have time to waste. These behaviors slowly exhaust the body, causing discomfort, symptoms and illnesses. However, instead of seeking help to reverse this process, the stressed individual learns to live with these problems, even if dissatisfied, because they believe they “can't stop”. Paradoxically, this further accelerates their organic decline, making them less and less productive. But after all, weren't productivity and problem-solving the main objectives?

And magic formulas touted as “anti-stress” are of little use in the context of an organism that, due to stress, doesn't even try to maintain the minimum of healthy lifestyle habits (find out why in “The Magic Pill”): link); or do you really think that a “little drug” is going to do for you everything that you neglect on a daily basis?

So I want to convey a simple message to those who live under constant stress: taking time out every day to look after yourself is not a waste of time, but the only necessary way to keep your body and mind fully capable of coping with stress successfully, without sacrificing your health in the process. This is perfectly feasible through something simple but often overlooked: planning. The idea of “let life take me, life take me” should only be appreciated in the context of the music to which it belongs. If you don't exercise, no one can do it for you, and it's your circulatory system that can collapse. The same applies to adequate hydration, a balanced diet, restful sleep and proper breathing. If you don't make an effort to promote these healthy habits, do you really believe that anyone can do it for you?

I have little to advise on planning, as each person needs to learn how to fit caring for their own body into their daily routine, which is unique to each person. For me, Stephen Covey's book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” was a great help, but the concept is simple: plan your day better in advance and you'll at least be able to develop better lifestyle habits. I say this with the confidence of having seen tens of thousands of patients who, by realizing the importance of taking better care of themselves (which they had been neglecting), were able to find time in their daily routine to practice healthier habits. The results? More health, more well-being, better quality of life and greater productivity. And wasn't that the main objective all along?

CHECK IT OUT: https://icaro.med.br/stress/

What are you waiting for? The first heart attack or stroke, which can take up a lot or “all the time in the world”?

Best regards, Ícaro Alves Alcântara