Diverse diet, regular daily routine and details of men's health
For men's health and wellness, an important factor is to have a diverse diet to ensure that the body receives a variety of nutrients, vitamins, and trace elements in a balanced manner to meet its needs. It is crucial to avoid picky eating and unbalanced diets.
Regarding food combinations, our ancestors summarized their experience in achieving a diverse and balanced diet very early on. The *Suwen* (Plain Questions) chapter "On the Timing of Visceral Qi" states, "...grains nourish, fruits assist, meats benefit, vegetables supplement..." This is a very reasonable nutritional recipe, embodying comprehensive and balanced nutrition and food diversity, demonstrating high scientific validity. For health and longevity, one must have grains as the staple food, vegetables as a supplement, meat as a side dish, and fruits as auxiliary nutrition, combining them skillfully. This essentially reflects the good dietary habits of our ancestors. A picky diet, focusing only on refined grains and neglecting whole grains, leads to insufficient vitamins; focusing only on whole grains and neglecting refined grains, leads to insufficient carbohydrates; focusing only on meat and neglecting vegetables, leads to excess fat and insufficient carbohydrates; focusing only on vegetables and neglecting meat, leads to insufficient protein and trace elements. Therefore, we advocate a reasonable dietary structure, which is conducive to health and longevity.
Hua Tuo said, "The human body needs exercise, but not to the point of exhaustion. Movement allows the digestion of food, promotes blood circulation, and prevents disease. It is like a door hinge that never rusts." Men should also pay attention to regular daily routines and a structured lifestyle. Regular and scientific daily routines are important factors for health and longevity. Medical researchers have found through surveys of centenarians that regular sleep patterns are a crucial condition for health and longevity. Scientific research has discovered that a regular sleep schedule can create a beneficial stimulus to the central nervous system, promoting the normal physiological function of the body's tissues and organs. The ancient medical text, *Huangdi Neijing*, states, "Eating and drinking in moderation, maintaining regular daily routines, and avoiding excessive labor, one can live in harmony with one's spirit and fulfill one's natural lifespan, reaching a hundred years before passing away." This illustrates that in daily life, regular and structured routines lead to health and longevity; irregular routines and a life that violates the body's physiological norms result in weakness, illness, and premature aging.
**Cultivating oneself and nurturing one's character requires careful attention to even the smallest details.**
There is a story like this:
Long ago, a blacksmith forged a nail, but it wasn't hot enough. However, to complete the army's mission, he didn't think much of it and handed it over. The army later nailed the nail into a saddle. Eventually, the saddle broke when the horse was delivering military intelligence, and the war was lost because the intelligence failed to arrive. Thus, a defective nail ruined an entire war.
This story illustrates the importance of details.
There is a saying in Han Feizi's "Yu Lao": "A thousand-foot dike can be breached by an ant's hole; a hundred-foot house can be burned down by a fire from a crack." This is the origin of the idiom "A thousand-mile dike is destroyed by an ant's hole." The whole story is as follows:
One year, near the banks of the Yellow River, there was a village where, to prevent flooding, the farmers built a magnificent long dike. One day, an old farmer noticed that ant nests had suddenly multiplied. He wondered if these ant nests would affect the safety of the dike. He wanted to return to the village to report this, but met his son on the way. The son, after listening, dismissively said, "How could such a sturdy dike be afraid of a few tiny ants?" He then pulled the old farmer to go to the fields with him. But unexpectedly, that night, a storm raged, the Yellow River swelled rapidly, and the roaring water began to seep from the ant nests, then gushed forth, finally breaching the dike and drowning the people.
From the stories above, we understand the importance of details. In the long journey of maintaining good health, men must also pay attention to the smallest details, lest a seemingly insignificant problem ruin their health.
Maintaining good health requires attention to detail, specifically in the following aspects:
First, make sure to get up at the best time.
Traditional Chinese lifestyle habits emphasize "early to bed and early to rise," with the saying "rising at the crowing of the rooster." However, recent research by Japanese medical experts suggests that waking up too early is detrimental to heart health. Researchers surveyed over 3,000 adults aged 23 to 90 and found that those who woke up early were more prone to cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and stroke. British researchers attribute this to an increase in substances in the blood that may trigger heart disease when waking up early (such as between 5:22 AM and 7:21 AM), suggesting that 7:30 AM is the optimal time to wake up.
To ensure a safer wake-up time, Professor Jim Horne of the British Sleep Research Centre suggests: After waking up, turn on a bedside lamp, lie down for five minutes, move your limbs and head, and then get up slowly. Avoid sudden or abrupt movements, as these can cause sudden changes in blood pressure. This is especially important for middle-aged and elderly people.
II. Techniques for Breathing In and Out
A recent study by American researchers found that at least half of the urban population has inadequate breathing techniques, characterized by excessively short breaths, often exhaling hastily before the inhaled fresh air has reached the lower lobes of the lungs. Furthermore, those accustomed to this "short breathing" are mostly white-collar workers who sit for long periods – when they sit upright, their chest is compressed, and breathing often relies solely on the upper lungs, resulting in insufficient diaphragmatic movement.
The key to proper breathing is to be calm and allow the inhaled oxygen to penetrate every corner of the lungs. The exhalation time should be about twice the inhalation time. Try to breathe through your nose as much as possible and avoid using your mouth.
Researchers point out that once you change your incorrect breathing patterns, many common diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, high blood pressure, heart disease, and headaches will be alleviated to some extent. It can even have a certain therapeutic effect on some incurable diseases, such as menstrual disorders and various allergic reactions.
Third, there are proper methods for defecation.
From a physiological perspective, defecation, like eating, is an innate instinct. Unfortunately, for various reasons, very few people defecate correctly. The correct method of defecation should include the following key points:
1. Aim for 1-2 bowel movements per day. The ideal is to have the least amount of straining, the shortest duration, smooth passage, and a feeling of relief afterward.
2. The best time to defecate is around breakfast time, as this aligns with the body's physiological rhythms. For example, the stimulation of food can accelerate gastrointestinal motility, and this reflexive peristalsis easily induces the urge to defecate. Therefore, defecating about 20 minutes after breakfast is most suitable. In addition, standing upright after waking up in the morning can also stimulate colonic movement, which is why many people need to go to the toilet immediately after waking up, which is beneficial for anal health and strengthening the body.
3. Follow the regularity of your bowel movements. After completing the first bowel movement, rest quietly for a while. When you feel the urge to defecate again as the stool moves down from the upper rectum, then perform the second bowel movement, gradually increasing the force to expel the stool. Do not force a bowel movement excessively between bowel movements, as this can easily cause anal injury, laxity, or rectal prolapse.
4. A quick bowel movement is advisable. The actual time required for defecation is extremely short, each movement taking only a few seconds, and the total time for two or three movements should not exceed one minute. If you do not feel the urge to defecate after three to five minutes on the toilet, you should stop. Prolonged toilet time can easily lead to hemorrhoids.
In recent years, experts have put forward many new viewpoints regarding men's urination. One is the urination posture, suggesting that men adopt a squatting position like women, which is believed to reduce the risk of cancer. It turns out that squatting urination triggers a series of muscle movements and related reflexes, accelerating the clearance of intestinal waste, shortening the time feces remain in the intestines, and reducing the reabsorption of carcinogens such as hydrogen sulfide, indole, and skatole, thus protecting the intestinal mucosa from the toxicity of carcinogens. Research data shows that men who squat to urinate have a 40% lower cancer rate than those who stand to urinate, which is one of the secrets behind the low incidence of colon cancer among Indian men who habitually squat.
Secondly, regarding the interval between urinations, it is recommended to urinate every hour, regardless of whether there is an urge. Experts from the National Institute of Poisoning in the United States explained this by stating that the likelihood of bladder cancer is directly proportional to the time urine remains in the bladder. This is because urine contains a carcinogenic chemical that can damage the bladder's muscle fibers, destroy its cells, and promote cancerous changes. Researchers compared urine expelled every hour with urine expelled after 2-3 hours; the latter contained significantly more carcinogens. Therefore, urinating once an hour is recommended to effectively reduce the risk of bladder cancer.
Finally, after urinating, you can gently squeeze the perineum between the scrotum and anus with your fingers. This not only helps expel residual urine but is also beneficial for people with prostatitis.