Golden Triad for a Healthy Life: Sleep, Nutrition, and Exercise and their Role in Improving Quality of Life

-M. Roshan Ganesh

Intern, Mind Splatters, May-July 2024

‘Treatment without prevention is simply unsustainable.’ This quote by Bill Gates beautifully sums up the importance of lifestyle and its role in sustaining good health. We often consult a doctor or physician when we are unwell, we are prescribed medications that help regulate the symptoms. However, this is merely a temporary solution. Lasting change takes significant time and effort. Adequate diet, sleep, and exercise help us improve our physical health making us less prone to various diseases. Over the years as a result of rampant urbanization and capitalism, as a society, we are gradually progressing towards a fast-paced lifestyle practice with minimal importance given to physical and mental health.

It is rather easier to buy a burger than to get the ingredients from the market and prepare a fresh dish at home from scratch. However, the only downside to this is that many of the modern illnesses and disorders, ranging from diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and high blood pressure, can be avoided by adopting certain modifications to one’s lifestyle. The three elements diet, sleep, and exercise are interdependent and complement one another. A well-balanced meal rich with carbohydrates, proteins, and micro and macro nutrients helps in metabolism cell repair and better sleep hygiene. On the other hand, high-caloric processed foods, such as chips and fast foods lead to the development of obesity, and cardiovascular diseases and may cause irregularities in the sleep cycle. Exercise is influenced and influences both these elements. An active individual or an athlete would require significantly higher levels of nutrition to sustain rapid metabolism, and cell development as compared to an individual who leads a stationary lifestyle. Thus diet, rest, and exercise are the keys to longevity and overall well-being.

Any form of exercise has various physical and psychological benefits. Some of the physiological benefits of exercise include reduced blood pressure, an increase in metabolism, improved immune response, etc. It also helps us develop resilience, improved stress tolerance, and overall sleep quantity. Physical activity doesn’t necessarily have to be investing in expensive supplements or equipment. It can be of various types ranging from a brisk walk in the park with your loved ones, resistance training, yoga, and pilates, swimming, martial arts. The list is endless. One of the most important aspects of exercise is consistency, many individuals often quit eventually due to lack of time, low motivation, lack of visible results, or changes in the physique.

Sleep is another key player in determining individual physical and mental well-being. It plays a restorative function. It aids in memory consolidation, metabolic functions as well as cell repair. Good quality sleep is crucial for improved performance, and productivity. It is advised that a regular healthy individual should clock in at least 7-8 hours of sleep per day to perform at the most optimum levels.

To conclude, many of the modern-day physical and mental health disorders stem from increased stress levels, poor nutrition, decreased quality of sleep, etc. Thus, in order to eradicate this problem one needs to take a more sustainable approach to life and incorporate changes within their diet, sleep, and physical activity to see lasting results.