Health involves exercise, rest and diet

I lost a friend a week ago and it was not because he was not health conscious. This friend knew he had to exercise to keep physically fit. He would cycle long distances, sometimes into a neighbouring country to enjoy the scenes and improve his health.

Once, about three or four years ago, he invited me to partner him in a canoe race along the Merbok River with the competition ending at Pantai Merderka (Merdeka Beach).For me it was the first time I had ever paddled anything in a river and, knowing that, he got us involved in taking a boat from Pantai Merdeka to the starting point about five days before the competition. That was exhilarating but extremely tiring. Fortunately, our muscles recovered sufficiently to find us ready to the race.

This friend likes to travel around on his bicycle and it was good exercise for him. His stamina was good. His rest was usually enough, being able to sleep soundly through the night each day. However, he forgot about limiting the amount of certain foods in his diet until it was a little bit too late. His diet consists of too much fata and oils and this lead to high blood pressure. It was only when he discovered that his cholesterol level and blood pressure were too high that he decided to eat less fats and oils and take oats for breakfast.

Unfortunately, his arteries were already narrowing and one morning, while he was driving somewhere, someone honed loudly as a car overtook his and that caused a heart-attack from which he lost his life.

Perhaps, if he had looked into his diet earlier, he could be alive today. Whatever it is, let us check ourselves and confirm we have enough exercise, rest and a healthy diet so that we may move into our future with greater assurance of good health.Let us give good health first priority.