Health Variables

In addition to the variation of your particular eating and exercise habits, there are numerous other variables that affect your health (of which you may or may not be aware) or that can affect your health (those you hopefully intentionally introduce). In general terms, these are environmental and genetic variables.  Many environmental variables or factors can be controlled or changed. Knowledge of your genetic predisposition to these variables will help you make better health decisions.

emotional health

Emotional and Mental Health are areas often separated from "Physical" health in Western medicine.  A holistic view of health, taking into consideration the interaction of the mind and body and how they affect each other, is gaining traction.  There are some very good, science-based practices that can be easily learned, at no cost, that are proven to be as effective in many cases as psychiatric visits.

Maintaining your emotional and mental health may be THE most important thing you can do to reach your healthiest and happiest self.

Your food sources and supplements

The three calorie sources of food are carbohydrates, protein and fat, each with their corresponding caloric content per gram. There was a time in recent history where the science pointed to the simple equation: calories consumed plus or minus calories burned = a surplus (weight gain), equilibrium (no weight change) or deficit (weight loss). Obviously, it is not that simple, by far.

A big fat example:  We were told for years that fat might be "bad" or "good" based on the chemical nature of how many hydrogen atoms were attached to its molecules (oversimplification). Because of a serious misunderstanding of some health studies on fat which pointed to unsaturated fats as beneficial, and humans' taste for solidified fats (saturated) such as butter, a technical "advance" called hydrogenation added the extra hydrogen atoms to the unsaturated fats to solidify it at room temperature into what was sold as margarine. This hydrogenated vegetable oil is now known as a "trans fat," which when consumed raises our Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), aka "bad cholesterol, and lowers our good HDL cholesterol. to be a major triglyceride invented. This is only part of the big picture on fats. So many natural occurring fats, animal and plant based, that were once thought harmful (and still are by many who should know better), are now being viewed as our potential salvation to many metabolic related diseases.  

So much more needs discussion on carbs, protein and its sources, types of sugar, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, drinking water sources, etc..

Sleep

This may be one of the most underconsidered health areas in the last century. With the Industrial Revolution, came changes in humans' schedules, most notably eating 3 meals a day and sleeping schedules to coincide with work schedules. No longer were humans going to bed when it got dark and up at dawn. In addition to shift work (12+ hour days, before unions), work ethics of longer days pushed many into shorter and shorter nights of sleep. "You'll have plenty of time to sleep when you're dead," is the joking mantra of the workaholic. Science has shown us that sleep reduces cortisol, the stress hormone.  Where sleep quantity was once thought to be paramount (8 hours), the science now is also focusing on the quality.