By Lopamudra Gogoi Bora
The recent visit of one of my relatives has wheedled me in a way to take up this writing.
That day after dinner as we went up to bed there was this awful horrendous sound that gave me a sudden jerk from the initial stage of my unruffled sleep mixed with a creepy feeling altogether.I mustered my guts and followed the source of the sound and was surprisingly amazed what I sited next. The sound was delivered by my guest who let all hell break loose with his snoring. Even in my wildest dream I could never ever think of someone making such scariest sound while sleeping! More than the atrocious noise, my jaw dropped on seeing the physical demeanor of my guest wherein his system stopped breathing for almost a minute before releasing the air making that horrific noise. With the air release, his whole body had such a quake that I was taken aback for a moment. Here I must reveal the physicality of my guest who is obese with a bulging tummy that has tilted out so much so that you can actually spot it from afar.
Coming back to that night, my brain was still coping to that horror, when my guest again stopped breathing, his tongue out a little, his head slightly lifted from the pillow and chocked noisethat surged my palpitation into another level. And then his noisy air gets blown out giving another quake. The diverse nature of whistle snoring was unfamiliar to me till that date. It took me a while to get back to my normal mind frame and to accept the fact that my guest was doing fine. Assured of what was going on, I went off to bed but occasional snuffling did keep me jolted in between.
Next day I was updated by my guest about his various wheezing related tales thatkept expounding owing to his augmented weight. Of course those tales were filled with hilarious moments but underneath I felt an urgency to warn my guest of the alarming hazards on health that our “lifestyle” throws on us. I could clearly sense, he, being one of the victims. Inadvertently, though, we are doomed into a world that would otherwise be called “hellstyle” instead of “lifestyle”. Yes, this “style” of ours is nothing but an opener of the doors to hell. And what is hell? It is no physical world but a human condition wherein we push ourselves to that extreme level from where our ability to judge the right way of leading a healthy and happier life diminishes. Thereby submitting ourselves to a lesser world from where there is no respite. Steadily the trap becomes such strong that to come out of it becomes a question of life and death! And how do you fall into the trap? I shall tell you, in my next segment.
Well, this is not something out of this world but a life very much you and I lead. For those working in the metro cities life gets even tougher. The moment we get up from bed, the only alarm that strikes us is to reach office/ work place on time. And those 2 to 3 of morning hours are spent accomplishing our tasks with or mostly without breakfast, specifically aimed for a flawless completion of working hours throughout the day. Upon reaching our offices, we are glued to the monitor and dumped with our files only to realize the break time when your better half calls in to check with your lunch. Most of the time we grab our food in such a hurry that we do not realise what food we are eating. I have met people who eat food for the sake of eating and living.
Our food is meant to be eaten with ease and relishing each bite. But we have made our lives such, as if cooking and eating healthy food is the toughest job than those 9 hours at grilling work place. We tend to behave as if by making a healthy food habit we are but doing a favour on food rather than on ourselves. Well, to talk of healthy food, simply I can put that there is no second thought given in eating that piece of pizza or a burger packed with calories but our mind does shrink from buying that kg of apple for that matter. We keep saying fruits are selling very high but if we count our expenses spent on fast food, it is much more than some healthy options that otherwise we would have spent.
Food apart, if you ask any office-goer about the time he/she devotes to some physical activity, be ready to get that awful expression with an equally grating answer, “where do I have time on earth? I am so very busy.”
Yes, lack of physical exercises and effort in carrying out any activity is what helping gear up those weighty issues. And the result gets reflected in various weight related health problems. A hectic day schedule does drain us of the left over energy but it cannot be an excuse in not keeping ourselves hale and hearty.
How many of you get up in the morning browsing Facebook/Twitter/Instagram and WhatsApp messages? I am sure most of us do. Addiction to smartphone has become a lifeline from which even the elderly are not spared. The amount of time spent in checking out other’s post and pictures if put together is no less than the time we can actually spend on any outdoor activity. Taking out that half an hour for a brisk walk or some free hand exercise would actually make a lot more difference altogether. In course of our busy schedule we tend to disregardour health and a healthier way of life but believe me a healthy life does not cost much. What you need is some extra dose of determination and you need to expand your life a little more. By ‘expand’, I mean to accommodate few more things in life besides the regular stuffs. Let’s say for example, getting up half an hour early than the usual time or cutting short some casual things to make up for a walk etc. Small adjustments and small rectifications can really lead us to a new beginning.
Remember, a healthy body reverberates a healthy mind.
I hope my guest is reading this and does his bits with little changes and little adjustments.
I also hope that we understand life better soon and lead a life without regrets.
(The author is a Mumbai-based travel blogger and costume stylist)
