📘 Part 3: Keeping healthy

This episode's vocabulary

Commonplace (adjective) – happening often or seen frequently. → Going to the gym is commonplace these days.

Health-conscious (adjective) – aware of and concerned about health. → People today are more health-conscious than before.

Context (noun) – the situation or circumstances around something. → It depends on the context.

Afford (verb) – to have enough money or resources to do something. → You might be able to afford what you need.

Relative lack of (phrase) – having less of something compared to before. → There is a relative lack of demand on people’s time.

Conducive to (phrase) – making a certain outcome likely or possible. → Some lifestyles aren’t conducive to good health.

Performance-enhancing drugs (noun) – substances that improve athletic ability. → Some people take performance-enhancing drugs.

Endocrine disruption (noun) – interference with the body’s hormone systems. → They may suffer from endocrine disruption.

Osteoporosis (noun) – a disease that weakens bones. → Performance-enhancing drugs can lead to osteoporosis.

Embody a good example (phrase) – to show good behavior through your own actions. → Parents should embody a good example.

Multicultural society (noun) – a community with people from different cultural backgrounds. → Health concepts vary in a multicultural society.

Sustainable (adjective) – able to be maintained over time. → We need a sustainable way to stay healthy.

Awareness-raising campaign (noun) – an effort to inform people about an issue. → The government runs awareness-raising campaigns.

Flyer (noun) – a small printed sheet with information or advertising. → Charities send out flyers about healthy living.

Misleading (adjective) – giving the wrong idea or impression. → The food pyramid poster is extremely misleading.

Balanced diet (noun) – a way of eating that includes all necessary nutrients. → A balanced diet is key to staying healthy.

Regular check-up (noun) – a routine medical examination. → You should have a regular check-up with your doctor.

Preventive care (noun) – actions taken to avoid illness or injury. → Exercise is part of preventive care.

Hydration (noun) – the process of keeping the body supplied with water. → Hydration is essential for good health.

Sleep hygiene (noun) – habits that help you sleep well. → Good sleep hygiene improves overall health.

Questions and Answers

How do today's people keep healthy?

Well, lots of ways. It seems like everyone and their mother goes to the gym or goes running and does yoga and stuff like that. I'm not sure it was so commonplace before because people tended to work more hours and be less health-conscious. Maybe the closest thing they might have come to was running around an office while working. Almost nobody does that these days.

Is it difficult to stay healthy?

Well, surely that depends on the context. If you're a working single mother of three kids, then it's hard to see how you can find the time to look after yourself, unless you move around a lot at work and have a good salary. Then you might be able to afford what you need to do that. But for most people, given the wealth of information and opportunities out there and the relative lack of demand on their time, it should be easier than in the past.

Why can't many people keep healthy?

Well, other than what I said about having lives that aren't conducive to it? Maybe they just lack the awareness or have been misled. For example, some people think that taking various performance-enhancing drugs will make them healthy. And indeed, it does. In the short term, they look fantastic. But in the long run, they suffer from things like, I don't know, endocrine disruption and osteoporosis, and anxiety. So that's not great if you want to live a good life for a long time.

What can parents do to help improve their children's health awareness?

Well, it's easy to say they should just tell them to be healthy, and that's enough. But in the first place, lots of parents themselves aren't very good at looking after themselves. They might smoke or drink and then turn to their kids and say: Don't be like me, which is a pretty confusing message to send when you think about it. They really have to embody a good example, and their kids can see and follow it. It's always easier to show than to tell, at least for this kind of thing.

Maria: Do schools have the responsibility to provide health education?

Rory: Well, the easy answer is yes, since their job is to educate and to provide a good future. But this sort of breaks down when we consider that concepts of what is healthy vary from place to place. And in a multicultural society, that can be really hard to balance, especially when it comes to religious matters, like what foods are considered good and bad. It's probably better that they help students identify how they might go or they might best go about being healthy in a way that fits their lives and biology. That seems more sustainable and practical.

Maria: Where can people find information about keeping healthy?

Rory: Well, all over the place. You can hardly take a breath. There's someone offering you some sort of health advice, whether it's government awareness-raising campaigns or various charities sending out flyers or running ad campaigns to help people make the right choices. I mean, even the food industry contributed to that horrendous food pyramid poster you see plastered around schools, which is extremely misleading, but it's still information about keeping healthy. So it's everywhere.