Prevention is better than cure
Our socioeconomic level, a balanced diet and our sleeping quality have important effects on our health. This is nothing new, everybody knows about it, but we might not pay enough attention to these three things. Yesterday, the Aula Magna of the Historical Building of the University of Barcelona held a debate table organized by the University of Experience and Agrupació Foundation, in which these three things were made clear. The event was entitled “La salut, un concept molt ampli. Parlem-ne” (Health, a broad concept. Letʼs talk about it).
There were more than a hundred attendants interested in tips for a healthy ageing, who listened to Maria Carmen Vidal and Isabel Sánchez -academic coordinators of the programs in Nutrition and Gastronomy and Health Sciences of the University of Experience, respectively- and the speech by Javier Albares, neurophysiologist and expert in sleep medicine, and then took part in an open debate with lots of participation.
Our socioeconomic level, a balanced diet and our sleeping quality have important effects on our health. This is nothing new, everybody knows about it, but we might not pay enough attention to these three things. Yesterday, the Aula Magna of the Historical Building of the University of Barcelona held a debate table organized by the University of Experience and Agrupació Foundation, in which these three things were made clear. The event was entitled “La salut, un concept molt ampli. Parlem-ne” (Health, a broad concept. Letʼs talk about it).
There were more than a hundred attendants interested in tips for a healthy ageing, who listened to Maria Carmen Vidal and Isabel Sánchez -academic coordinators of the programs in Nutrition and Gastronomy and Health Sciences of the University of Experience, respectively- and the speech by Javier Albares, neurophysiologist and expert in sleep medicine, and then took part in an open debate with lots of participation.
“Health is more than not feeling sick”
Sánchez highlighted that the idea of health is very broad and it is hard to reach an agreement on what it means to be healthy. She said that the idea of health is very subjective and it often depends on cultural issues, sometimes even symbolic.
She focused on the most biological issue and said that the gender perspective is also important: “men and women do not live the same way and their rhythms of life are different. The long day and amount of responsibilities of a woman have negative effects on us and create a feeling of being sick”.
Also, she highlighted that the socioeconomic situation of each person is important. “We think there are no socioeconomic inequalities in Barcelona, but this is not true. There are some. Studies say the risk of developing diseases is not the same in Pedralbes than in Ciutat Vella”.
“Obesity is as damaging as tobacco”
Doctor Vidal, professor of Nutrition and Bromatology, focused her speech on the importance of our daily nutrition: “nowadays everyone knows that there are genetic and environmental factors that have an effect on our health, if we want to be healthy we have to have a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet”.
Vidal highlighted that in the past, nutrition-related diseases were caused due malnutrition, but in the 21st century there are more overeating-related diseases, and warned about risk factors in the development of severe diseases (sleep apnea, hypertension, diabetes, infertility …), which is as damaging as tobacco”.
She said progress has altered our lifestyle and turned us more sedentary. “As a consequence, physical activity -one of the three factors that modify peopleʼs daily calorie loss (apart from the basal metabolism, which is the energy we consume for our basic functions such as heart beating, thermogenesis, which is the energy we need to maintain our body temperature) -has been reduced. This forces us to eat less”.
Also, she highlighted that the Internet has had a bad impact on this, since there are no miracle diets and we should eat a bit of everything, but it is necessary for everyone to have the right amount of calories. “We are what we eat, and we will be more likely or less likely to be sick depending on what we eat”, she concluded.
“We forget about sleeping when it comes to health”
The expert in sleep medicine, Javier Albares, began his speech regretting that when it comes to health, people do not think about sleep. Sleeping is forgotten. “They always say we should eat properly and play sport, but few people talk about the importance of sleeping well”. According to Albares, “the bad image or idea about sleeping comes from long ago. In the Industrial Revolution, due some interests, people started to associate sleeping with a waste of time. Even now, there are adverts saying sleep is for the weak”.
He also warned the attendants about the consequences of not sleeping well: “a society that does not sleep well is a sick society, irritable, not creative, not empathic, with trouble in focusing, and a tendency to impulsivity”, and have some basic advice to improve sleep: controlling sleeping and waking up schedules, sleeping the necessary amount of hours, avoiding sports, food or electronic devices before going to bed, natural light during the day and warm and vague light at night; avoiding stimulants and restricting the uses of the bed (exclusively to sleep when we feel sleepy).
Also, he reminded about the changes in sleeping needs depending on the age, and said that the elderly change their circadian rhythm, and get advanced sleep phase syndrome (old people feel sleepy earlier and wake up earlier), and start waking up during the night more often. “Sleep is fractioned, and it is recommended to take a nap during the day”.
Last, he commented on some of the eighty sleep disorders (insomnia, apnea, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy, etc.) and said most of them are treatable but they need a good diagnose.
During the open debate, the attendants participated a lot and reached the conclusion that lots agree on the facts but few do something about it. The three experts agreed in claiming for the right tools so that people are more aware and start taking healthy habits.