Health Maintenance Practices

Your daily habits have a massive impact on your health! Good nutrition is fundamental to preventing chronic diseases like cardiovascular problems, cancer, and diabetes. What you eat provides nutrients - essential elements your body needs to function properly and grow.

Maintaining a healthy weight is crucial for overall wellness. In 2012, about 35% of US adults were considered obese (having a BMI of 30 or greater). A healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical activity offers numerous benefits: stronger muscles and bones, lower chronic disease risk, improved flexibility, and better emotional health.

Sleep is another critical component of health maintenance. Adults typically need 7-9 hours while children need 9-10 hours of sleep. Your sleep needs change throughout life - teenagers often need to sleep and wake later due to hormonal influences. During sleep, your body processes adenosine (which builds up while awake) and releases melatonin (the hormone that makes you feel sleepy).

Remember this! Sleep has different stages that serve different purposes. REM sleep (with rapid eye movement) typically occurs within 90 minutes of falling asleep and cycles with non-REM stages throughout the night. Non-REM sleep includes three stages, with the deepest sleep happening in stage 3 when your body does most of its repair work.