Start Walking

start walking

A brisk daily walk is fine but only if you can cope with it. Do whatever your body permits. Younger people can push themselves harder. Start slow and with a short distance, then gradually build to what is maximum for you. It may take quite a few weeks, even months.

“Listen to your body”— do what it tells you. If you notice chest pains (if older), this may need medical evaluation by a doctor. Take a bottle of water with you. A few sips often helps one revive.

healthy spreads

Jams have a lot of sugar and artificially sweetened ones do not taste good to some people. There are some products (often available at pharmacies) designed for diabetics with a low sugar level.

They are expensive but are an option. Alternatively, try a non-sweet spread such as Marmite.

It is also high in vitamin B but has a lot of salt.

Peanut butter is high in fats (but the good kind), and is tangy, tasty and crunchy.

varicose veins

Varicose veins can be removed after complete assessment of the lower limbs and the blood flow—usually by ultrasound.

Removal of the vessels, often segment by segment, now take place in a day-care unit. It takes some time to heal but outcomes are usually positive and the ugly tortuous vessels vanish.

broken clavical

The clavicle is the bone level with the shoulders, commonly called the collarbone. It forms part of the shoulder and joins near the midline to the sternum with cartilage. Several muscles are attached to it. If broken, often by a direct injury or blow, it usually heals quickly. Ideally the broken ends are kept in alignment but if there is some irregularity, it has no detrimental functional effect—it just looks a bit ugly in thin people. With children, it may be a greenstick crack, and invariably heals rapidly as bone growth in early life is faster.

drinking water

Some people prefer bottled water. While there may be more particles in tap water, many believe this is fine—exposing the immune system to stuff to which it can build an immunity. This is different from mineral water, which contains a range of inorganic chemicals, usually written on the label.

My view is the body is better off without these, as essential ones are usually contained in our food.

use it or lose it

My mum loved writing letters to friends. They would answer, so generating the need to write again. She wrote about 10 a day, and lived to 100. Her handwriting was impeccable, neat and easily readable. Her mum was a schoolteacher and said writing was important.

The same applies to every aspect of life. Lose the mental drive and the neurones wind down.

Stop exercising, muscles and joints get lazy and painful. Disregard sexual drive and often that also fades into oblivion. Stop walking, and soon you don’t care and won’t want to. Be nice to people— that too is catching and makes others like you.

Breast Lump

Q: I am 17 and there seems to be a lump in one breast. But I am too scared to tell mum who will probably drag me off to the doctor, which I would find terribly embarrassing.

A: The chances of the lump being sinister are remote. But any lump anywhere requires intervention and assessment by a doctor. Tell your mum, who probably had a similar experience at your age. A female doctor may lower your embarrassment. An examination and maybe an imaging test will remove the worry, which at present is obviously troubling you.