26100-1 (Your Health and You)

Your Health and You

Perhaps everyone has ever asked himself a question: 'Is my lifestyle healthy?'. If you ask 100 people the most popular answer is most likely to be 'No'. Besides health freaks that want to live to be a hundred noone does much to improve their health or at least not to harm it. I must confess that I do nothing about my health.

Some years ago most people used to keep fit by doing morning exercises. Now it has all gone. The greatest thing one can do in the morning is to rush to his kitchen to have a cup of coffee. Unaware that coffee harms his heart, of course. It has been estimated that more than 20% of Americans who are over 19 are smokers. This number must be even more for Russia. Passive smokers are uncountable. Extremely unhealthy food rose a guy named McDonald to worldwide stardom. The multi-million fast-food business is based on harming people's health. Computer games make people short-sighted. Moreover, they top the list of the most mentally dangerous things in the world.

I guess the state of people's health can be judged by these examples. According to reliable sources, the trend of weakness of people living in megapolises like Tokyo or New York is remarkably similar to the trend of getting stronger in the 19^th century. It reflects reality hidden under shining covering. What does this fact tell us about? Humankind is steadily moving to new scientific discoveries. But at the same time we're getting weaker, partly because of the progress, partly because of our lifestyle.

Here comes the question - how to distinguish between good and evil? Actually it is one of the most acute problems for the scientists to deal with. Actually the one who will find a universal formula of combining technical progress with healthy living can expect to be considered a legendary hero.

Alexander V. Myskin, gr. 2o1