Unit three

TEXT 1

Assignment: Read the text, comprehend it and give answers to the test given after it.

Personal health test

Good health is directly connected with total life style. More and more people are becoming aware that they can improve their lives by opting for the right food, finding a form of exercise they enjoy and, above all, understanding the fundamentals of basic good health.

Out of sheer self-interest, insurance companies have gone to great lengths to calculate the life expectancy of various “average” citizens. They lay great emphasis on heredity factors: the children of short-lived parents and grandparents will probably die earlier than those with long-lived ancestors. There is, of course, nothing we can do about our bloodstock. How­ever, if your parents and grandparents all died young, don’t despair. In learning enough about heredity to compile such statistics, we have paved the way for preventive medicine and monitoring systems which will one day cancel out such disadvantages of birth. Furthermore, whatever your birthright, adopting a vigilant attitude to health can radically improve your prospects.

Here is a questionnaire against which to measure your current levels of fitness and your vulnerability to illness. Remember – the very fact that you are attempting it probably proves that you have resolved to improve your health, so don’t worry if the results don’t please you. It is much more important to be honest with yourself than to score highly.

One section concerns your personal health, one your eating habits, one your patterns of exercise and the fourth your general lifestyle. It may be that you score well with “Nutrition”, for example, but less well with “Exercise”. In this case, you probably tire quickly despite eating a sound diet. Since your heart has no stamina. Or perhaps stress is sapping your energy; that will show up in your scores for the “Lifestyle” section. All-round health is a combination of food, fitness and lifestyle. This division into sections should help you to pinpoint the particular areas where you have most room for improvement.

LIFESTYLE

1. How do you spend your working day?

1. doing hard, physical work;

2. sitting at a desk;

3. standing up.

2. How many of the following things have happened to you in the last two years: marriage, house removal, bereavement, burglary, childbirth, divorce, change of job, car crash, worrying debt?

a) none;

b) more than three;

c) one or two.

3. How often do toy have free hours to yourself?

a) every day;

b) never;

c) once a week.

4. Is there anyone you feel able to confide in?

a) my partner, relations, friends and colleagues;

b) nobody;

c) my partner.

5. Do you get depressed?

a) rarely;

b) often;

c) sometimes.

6. Are you unable to sleep?

a) hardly ever;

b) often;

c) sometimes.

7. When did you last laugh out loud?

a) today;

d) don’t remember;

c) last week.

8. How frequent are quarrels and bickering in your household?

a) rare;

b) commonplace;

d) rather too regular.

9. What is your attitude to getting old?

a) I’ll try to keep fit and alert;

b) dread;

c) it can’t be helped.

10. When you are dissatisfied with your lot, what is generally to blame?

a) my attitude of mind;

b) my partner;

c) fate.

11. Where do you live?

a) in the countryside;

b) in a city;

c) in a suburb or provincial town.

Summing up. Country life has more to recommend it than just lower pollution levels. It operates at a slower pace, and often involves healthy outdoor activities. Absolute isolation, though, can be extremely stressful. To be confined to a remote, gale-swept island closely resembles life on the top floor of a tower block.

Stress of a milder form is not wholly bad. It increases alertness and powers of performance. But unless you can escape it for a while every day, it is a clock spring which will eventually over wind.

Any change of circumstances is stressful – even seemingly pleasurable ones like marriage, childbirth or a new job. So you should think twice about undertaking more than one avoidable upheaval in any one year.

Confiding hopes and fears in a friend not only gives you the benefit of their advice but actually helps to organize a strategy for coping. Shut up in your head, worries can grow out of all proportion.

A feeling of self-reliance is equally important. However many demands are made on you, your life should ultimately be of your own making.

You may feel that happiness is a health factor over which you have no control. A happy marriage and a sense of humour are certainly gifts to be prized. Severe shocks and bereavement show an uncanny correlation with the onset of disease shortly afterwards, and certainly there is nothing you can do to avoid such things. Many of us cannot even chose where we live or what we do for a living. There are many petty forms of discontent, however, which can be overcome by the right mental approach. What is your attitude to meditation or yoga? E in the west tends to look askance at remedies from another culture, but both these “arts” are of proven benefit to anyone under stress.

If your scores were mostly As in this section, you can consider yourself both wise and fortunate. If your scores were mostly Cs, consider whether or not you have let a fundamentally good lifestyle get into a rut. Would it benefit from some new challenges, new relationships and from a little fun? Perhaps you need to turn mealtimes back into times when you and your family talk to each other.

If you answered the questions mostly with Bs, it might be time for a close look at your life. Is there some pleasurable pastime you could take up? There is always something you can do to improve your lot – even if it is only to nurture an inner reservoir of peace.