Many things can be disputed, but the fact that we live hectic lifestyles cannot. Today we live faster than ever, with every minute on the clock being precious to us; we are always in a hurry to get somewhere and do something. If we consider the Middle Ages for a moment, we can notice that people did not use minutes to count the time, only hours, and we can deduce that life did not revolve around time as much as it does now. So can the way we value time make us more or less happy?
What is the current state of affairs?
We have all heard the saying: “Time is money” countless times. Even though it is supposed to state how important and valuable time is, it somehow manages to point in the opposite direction. Today we tend to measure things by the profit they bring us, and it seems that even time has fallen into that category. And in this materialistic world of today, who even stops to think whether seeking profit is the right thing to do? Sure, it feels good when we buy a new car, or when we move into a new apartment.
We tend to escape from the vicious tempo of our lives by making our life as comfortable as possible, so in a way, we balance between two extremes, one of stress and exhaustion, and one of comfort and relaxation. When we look at it from this point of view, it is no wonder that entertainment programs are more popular than ever, although some would argue that they are merely illusions that keep us happy and satisfied with the current state of our lives.
What should we focus on instead?
We have established that purposefully putting your body under stress is not healthy. In fact, prioritizing money over our health can have detrimental consequences. The Mayo Clinic’s website clearly states that stress can contribute to various physical, but also mental problems, like overeating, or binge drinking, which can all significantly shorten your life span. Instead of prioritizing money, we should instead learn to value our time, but not in the sense that we can use it to make more money, but rather to spend it to take care of ourselves. There is only so much stress the human body can handle. Instead, we should focus on relaxing and finding a way to avoid putting unnecessary stress on our bodies, in order to maintain our health.
This includes hobbies that can help us relax and unwind; reading and sports in one’s free time are highly recommended, as the former significantly reduces the risk of developing mental illnesses later on in life, whereas the latter strengthens the heart and increases one’s life expectancy.
Conclusion
It is evident that the current way of living is not the healthiest option for us. Long work hours, deadlines, commuting, all such things can contribute to the unnecessary tasks that our bodies have to endure, in order to perform all the things we set forth to achieve. Such harsh conditions can bring about a plethora of symptoms, such as high blood pressure, chest pain, insomnia, high blood sugar, all of which are in no way beneficial for the human body. Our immune system perceives distress as a foreign attack, so we can often see pimples develop in people who are under stress.
In order to survive this detrimental lifestyle of the twenty-first century, we need to adapt our way of living so that our bodies bear as little unnecessary strain as possible, for it is the only way to remain truly healthy.