Taking charge of your own health

Self-care seems to be the new buzzword. I'm on the PPG at my doctor's surgery and that's what we've been asked to help encourage. There's a hashish on Twitter #365daysofselfcare.

So here's my list:

I go for a brisk walk every single day, once a week on an organised one.

I carry all my shopping.

I do Pilates once a week.

We avoid ready meals and processed food.

I sing in a group.

I laugh a lot.

I aim to have a stress free life

(That all sounds so holier-than-thou! But I do try to keep healthy).

Hashish!! that should be hashtag. Lol.

It would help the laughing Grannyknot!

My goodness you deserve an Olympic gold for all the effort you put in,Atticus!
I thought I was doing my bit for my health but now I see I could do a lot better.
I play tennis once or twice a week, walk a few miles a week, keep on a heathy diet , drink in moderation and, luckily, still have a fairly active job that brings me into contact with a lot of people. Therefore I laugh a lot too.
I used to think that I was the person the media was targeting with their scary stories of risks to a healthy life but now I know I'm not. I think I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing.

Don't over-think it, just keep as active as you can, eat what you like in moderation, and enjoy some free time with friends. Being content with what you have is good for you.

Well said Print miss. I do so agree with you.

sadly so called fit people can still have heart attacks! as we all get older we do try to look after ourselves, which can be very difficult if you are in poor health. My brother I think takes it to the extreme he is 71 and a complete fitness freak and I worry that he is doing far too much.

My focus would be to keep well out of the way when kettle bells of 6 or 8 kg are being swung around.
All respect to you Atticus but your regime sounds like the Seventh Circle of Hell.

Exactly Mumsy my late husband was the fittest man you can imagine. He played football, cricket etc. And ran in various marathons . He died of a massive heart attack whilst playing sport.
The OP upsets me a bit in that it seems to suggest that it is often our own fault for getting sick if we don't keep fit .
I try and keep fit. I am slim . I eat very healthy. I don't smoke . My bloods are very good. My bp is perfect ( crikey knows how) but I live with a debilitating condition which flairs up through no fault of my own . I am having a rotten episode at the moment almost definitely caused by stress which I can do nothing about .

Oh that's all very well, until, out of the blue, you develop some condition that simply comes to some people with ageing. Then there's fuck all you can do about it.

Fitness doesn't help all things.

Just read gillybob's post. The original post made me angry. After the night I've just had. Through no fault of my own.

gillybob and mumsy have a point.
Being serious DH suffers from a variety of life limiting conditions which are incurable and in the main only "containable" by a raft of medication and hospital interventions. Not one of these is lifestyle related, they are all genetic and/or auto immune diseases and other than following his drug regime he can do bu**er all about them.
I too find OP's point of view blinkered and were I feeling sensitive on DH's behalf, even smug and hurtful. DH would like to be able to walk to the end of the drive without both sticks, go upstairs without getting breathless and not have to have blood transfusions often twice or even three times within a month in order to function.

I have. Brain AVM that first haemorrhaged at 47 and that was just the first haemorrhage. I am now 66 living with a time bomb in my head. Apart from keeping blood pressure down, a lot of the " health regimes" like weights etc. could have caused a haemorrhage, I was borne with this thing in my head and I nor anyone else knew it was there until it bled. My sister was the healthiest person you could have ever met, slim , exercised, ate well, good BP etc....yet at the age 66 she developed ALS motor neurone was was dead in two years.
Sometimes it doesn't matter about health regimes, they don't help!

I agree with all the comments about overdoing things and conditions that we simply can't avoid, and yes, the OP does come over as a bit smug. But he does have a point in that it's down to us all, if well enough, to do what we can as individuals to safeguard our health.

Atticus's regime sounds over the top to me, but something like Grannyknot's is what I'd like to recommend to the waddling, arguing, pasty-gorging families we avoided saw far too many of in our city centre the other day. Saying that, DGS1 requested a Greggs sausage roll for lunch and we all had one We do much better as a general rule.

Pride sometimes comes before a fall as they say.

Maggiemaybe DH enjoys a proper pasty once in a while - is that what makes him argumentative?
(actually, probably more so before the pasty, must be the low blood sugar makes him tetchy!)

I think maybe the cans of lager some of them were carrying might have had more to do with the arguments than the pasties, Jalima

How do we know atticus is a "he"?

Be careful "swinging the kettle bells" about! You can do more harm than good if you get that wrong. I hope your Mumsnet fitness guru is fully qualified.

Sorry, but what a load of tosh. I have a very healthy diet, don't smoke or drink, played badminton until I was 61, never drove a car and walked everywhere. Nobody in my family have had the condition I got so it is absolutely random. I was given a 22% chance of a heart attack but developed cardiac symptoms. life is full of surprises.

Greggs do lovely filled rolls. No mayo, just pickle. (But it's very hard not to add a sausage roll )

I would genuinely love to know how you can live stress free? Does being stress free mean being selfish and always putting oneself first?
I would be happy just reducing my stress levels to a "manageable" level. My consultant says that my lifestyle is what causes me to relapse . How can you change your lifestyle ? I am not trying to pick an argument I am open to any suggestions .

Attics, just watch out when you cross the road!

What a smug self-congratulary opening message. As others have said, one's fundamental health is largely a matter of genes and 'events'. Atticus is lucky not to have had any problems (so far...) But to be so smug about good fortune is very irritating. Of course overweight is largely (but not always) self-inflicted but there are so many reasons why so many people can't be as active as they would like to be. I would love to be able to walk still but, because of a neurological condition, can only do so with 2 crutches and quite a lot of pain.And there is no way I could walk at a reasonable enough speed for it to have a beneficial effect on my cardiovascular well-being. But I am very grateful that I can swim and do so as often as possible. And messages like that from Atticus just make me cross!!