Health and Lifestyle

Another feature of the American lifestyle what is well-known all around the world is fast food eating habits. As well as the Europeans like to cook some food at home; the Americans like to go to McDonald’s or KFC or order some food in. On the other hand, there is another part of Americans who try to live a very healthy life; they do a lot of exercise, eat healthy food. Those people are called “healthy freaks”.

The idea of freedom is very important for the USA. In normal life, we can mention it in the facts like absence of the fences around houses etc.

The USA is called “the melting pot” because all the cultures which live there have given some of their habits to America and formed the mixture of many cultures.

Health

More and more people today start to realise that good health means a longer and happier life. That is why they take better care of their health than before. The idea is very simple. If you make your body strong and healthy, then you won’t become ill. There are three ways to do this. They are: diet, relaxation, exercise.

For many people, bad health begins with a bad diet. Some eat the wrong kind of food. Others eat too much or too little. It’s not surprising that people like this often become ill. On the other hand, people concerned about their health eat healthier food. They try to eat regularly, avoid eating chips, hamburgers, food in tins and packets. Instead, they try to eat fresh fruit and vegetables, brown bread, fish and white meat and reduce the amount of salt, fat, and sugar.

Modern life is full of pressure and problems. Some people can control these. They sleep well, enjoy life, don’t worry very much and try to avoid stressful situations as much as possible. They know how to relax and that relaxation helps the body to rest and repair itself. Others are the opposite. They sleep badly, don’t enjoy life and worry all the time. People like this are suffering from stress. Stress is a kind of illness itself and it can lead to many others.

Exercise is very important for good health. Without it the body becomes slow and fat. It also becomes weak and less able to fight illness. Unfortunately, modern life makes it very easy to be lazy.

When we are ill, we usually see a doctor (GP – general practitioner). The doctor examines our body, asks about the symptoms and usually prescribes some medication, which is usually available on prescription in a pharmacy. In some cases we need to make an appointment with a specialist (dentist, neurologist, orthopaedist...). When the illness is too serious to be treated at home, we are taken to hospital and sometimes even undergo surgery.

People who are employed pay their health insurance monthly. They do not need to pay for basic health care and basic medication. When they want extra care or special treatment, they have to pay the extra costs.

Everybody goes through various diseases during their childhood and adult life. Most of the diseases are not serious and do not take a long time to cure because we have efficient medication against them. Such diseases are flu, tuberculosis, or scarlet fever. Besides, each child is vaccinated against TBC, whooping cough, polio, smallpox, measles, hepatitis etc. However, there are diseases which we have problems to cure or cannot cure at all yet, such as cancer, AIDS or heart attacks.