Have you ever found that the simplest advice is often the best advice? If only we could heed the nursery rhyme above, we would be so much better off! While we are all responsible for our own health and wellbeing, how often do we neglect it?
Our immune systems work 24/7 trying to keep us healthy. Obesity, smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, plummeting Vitamin D levels as we age, and neglect of our physical selves all add to lowered defenses against illness. Vitamin deficiencies do not only strike third world countries. Our dietary intakes rarely provide us with the vitamins and minerals we need to function and fight the obscene new strains of bacteria, the cancers and diseases we see around us today.
As the planet seems to be in turmoil with earth quakes, tornados, floods, tsunamis and wars (and threats of war) we cannot be too careful with our health. Who knows what will be expected of us of our bodies in the future? What will we be faced with? What will we be asked to live through? The stress of it alone puts us at risk. We must be able to stand strong and endure whatever challenges will come before us.
Only the Strong Survive was a 1968 R&B hit by Jerry Butler. Although his lyrics reflected a somewhat different topic, the message in the title remains clear. Those people who are prepared and who have heeded the advice of the six wise doctors (cited above) will survive. As an RN (and optimist) I have complete faith in it!