How our Lifestyle affects Personal Fund

Last week, Suresh and I visited our bank’s relationship manager who is a young adult in his late 20s. We were asked to be seated as the young guy was multitasking – searching for data on his laptop and at the same time answering a call using mobile phone which was cradled between his shoulder and ear. Unfortunately, the manager was unaware of the future consequences of a prolonged distortion of his neck.

How often do we take a step back to look at the way we live in our “too busy” lifestyle? Things have been made easy for us and the world is progressing but the little habits we follow might hold us back from living healthy life.

The new-age health issue: Affecting us in more ways than one!

Mobiles, computers, tabs are such an intrinsic part of our lives today that they have started to adversely affect your health and lifestyle. Just as they have changed the way we interact with each other, access information they’ve also contributed to a rise in health hazards, previously unknown.

As you can see, the regional manager has tilted his head in such a position that even his shoulders have moved into an incorrect and poor posture. This adds to excess strain and creates extra wear and tear on the structures of the neck, upper spine and back. If he keeps sitting in the same position for a long time he will soon suffer from spinal degeneration. At the initial stages, this incorrect posture may not result in very painful conditions. Not all of us are aware of a good posture but if we don’t prevent such faulty postures it may lead to a serious long-term health consequences.

Some common posture mistakes are forward head positioning, rounded shoulders, and loss of the normal curve in the lower back. If you’re unable to sit or stand for prolonged periods of time, feel a stiffness when rising from a chair after sitting or feel physically drained at the end of a day – then these are some early warning signs that you’ve got postural problems. And if you fail to take note of these early warning signs, you’re surely in for long-term health effects. From muscle imbalance to loss of normal flexibility and even whole-body discomfort, the effects are numerous and can lead to chronic stress.

Spinal degeneration is not a joke as it involves surgery that entails huge expenses from hospitalization, post-surgical care, long break from work and more.

Health is “not” wealth, but it is more important than wealth!

You might have heard of this age-old adage “Health is Wealth.” Considering today’s lifestyle and healthcare costs, the updated statement would be: “Health is more important than wealth!” Healthcare problems worry people these days unlike never before with rising new ‘lifestyle’ diseases. And one of the common types of disease is ‘occupational health disease’

Health care is one of the financial burdens for a wide array of people. Studies prove that people in India pay for their medical expenses from their personal savings. These ‘out-of-pocket’ expenses in India contributes to 70% of the healthcare expenses with 54% in China, 13.4 percent in the US and only 10 % in the UK! This clearly shows how the healthcare costs are one of the hindrances to financial wealth and a financially secure ‘early’ retirement life. According to a macroeconomic report by World Bank and National Commission, only a mere 5 percent of people are covered by health insurance policies in India.

We all have this misled belief that the high cost of healthcare only affects the poor people but what we don’t know is that it affects all income-groups equally despite the rise of health insurance. Because you just won’t be dealing with your hospital bills but also be completely halting yourself from earning your income.

The key is prevention.

A preventative care is the only solution to these lifestyle and occupational diseases.

The first step is awareness. You need to understand that having a good posture is key to preventing pain. If you make good posture a habit, you can stop neck or back pain. You can also prevent similar problems related to an incorrect posture and other biomechanical problems.

Dr. Hanraj adds “Good posture is not only good for the health of your spine; it is good for your overall health and mood as well.” Research has also shown that standing straight and a maintaining a good posture helps regulate hormones that affect your mood.

The only solution is to take care now so that you can spend less later. Imagine if the medical care stops you from working full-time leaving you with no income! A stretching exercise once every hour and a good posture will prevent the huge hospital bills later. A health check-up once a while won’t hurt your budget. Remember, “It costs money to stay healthy, but it is even more expensive to get sick!”