Introduction
Health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Based on this definition we have provided the following quick guides to enable you and your family to live disease-free lives, be socially well, have a sound mental health, and enjoy an excellent physical existence.  Let us therefore begin from simple advice in this chapter before we deal with the more serious issues of infirmities.

Step 1.   Associate with the right individuals. Associates and friends influence each other for good or for bad which may improve or worsen your social, mental or physical health.  In part, you are a reflection of the associations that you keep. If you associate with wrong persons, they may mislead you or drive you crazy (impair your physical and mental health). If you get along with good and wise people, you may prosper and your well-being will last a long time.

Step 2. Obey the law. There are two sets of laws to be obeyed. In the end they converge as one. The first set is that you obey God’s laws. Some people or scientists call this the Natural laws.  The second is that you should obey the government laws and moral codes. All of these converge as one powerful law: Without a valid and legitimate reason, do not cause harm to God, to yourself and to others including animals and the environment. Know your limits in life. Use your natural assets, your body and man-made assets for their intended purposes. Do and act at the right time, according to life’s timeline. Be a teenager and behave like a teenager when you are teen. Don’t be an adult when you are a child. You may be too stressed with the burden of adulthood if you are too young.  If you fail to observe the purpose and time for your body and you do not confine yourself to your limits, you may be breaking the law and so impairing your health.

Step 3. Eat healthy food and balanced diet. You are what you eat. You are a direct reflection of your food (See the relevant Chapter on this topic below).

Step 4. Rest well. Have good rest always especially after a good and productive work. To work productively and be employed has been proven to contribute to our well-being (employment contributes to our social, mental, and financial health). For an adult, good quality of 6-8 Hours of sleep in 24 hours should be enough and reasonable (See the relevant Chapter on sleep topic below). Your brain and body need to “recharge” and recover from spent energy of past activities. If not, the body may break down. They need natural recovery and replacement of “used parts”, so to speak.

Step 5.Exercise frequently and reasonably. You could live longer and healthier as well as prevent a lot of dangerous diseases by keeping your body and brain in both physical and mental exercises. If you don’t exercise, the brain and your body may lose their vitality and die off gradually ahead of your destined time. Keep your brain active and prevent dementia. An exercise is any deliberate and purposeful movement of the body or parts of the body including quick walking for a minimum duration of 30minutes, everyday, which must make us sweat. Brain exercise is continuing employment of the brain and our mind to be intellectually challenged and productive.

Step 6.  Avoid substances (illegal drugs and alcohol). Avoid taking substances that could hinder the proper functioning of your brain and body. These substances (alcohol, cocaine, heroin, cannabis, paint and solvents, LSD and so many others), could shorten your life and or cause you great harm as well as impair your future career and children (affecting your genetics or DNA and your brain too).

Step 7.  If you decide to marry: Marry the person who is right for you. Do your “home work” well (see suggested book below for more to read). Invest in your future well-being and the likely partner that may impair or help your health.

Investigate  your partner properly, including medical investigation to prevent diseases that may affect you and your likely children (see Genetic Diseases below). Once you marry the right person, stay married and faithful (See also Sexually Transmitted Diseases). Divorce or marital disagreement can cost you your health via anxiety and depression. You could lose money too through settlement of divorce. Your partner may even decide to kill you if you fall into wrong hands. So be wise. Love is blind but marriage opens the eyes.   Decent single life (not divorce) is good too. You have less to worry about. Whilst you may be lonely and alone, you will at least preserve your mental health.

Step 8. Prevent genetic diseases from being transferred from you or from your spouse to your children. Investigate yourself and your spouse, well before you begin. The investigations such as knowing if you have sickle cell disease will go a long way to preserve your life and those of your offspring.

Step 9. Let your family be religious. There is great amount of scientific evidence to support this claim.  It helps a great deal. You are not on your own. Stop deceiving yourself; neither did you create yourself.  Doctors call this involvement in spiritual or religious practice: holistic medicine. It’s good for you to believe in God. Be careful with words that you receive and words that you express. They are powerful. Words can give you peace or trouble. Follow the appropriate Faith suitable for you.  You need to decide.

Step 10. Be vigilant always and do things diligently to avoid disappointment and sadness. Costly mistakes can lead to depression that may follow. Disappointment or failed desire is a recipe for depression and unhappiness. Do not allow others to exploit you (sexually, physically and emotionally etc). It can be harmful to your physical and mental stability. Consider being dutifully careful in issues concerning:

a)  Money matters.  Be wise in accumulating and saving. Be prudent in spending your money.

b)   The conception of children, birth, upbringing and care (more of this later): If you fail to plan for your children, direct and care for them, well, they may give you sadness later on when they become under-achievers in life or, way-ward or become trouble-makers in the society.

c)    Avoid, like plague, people who may try to harm you. People are slippery. So, be cautious with other human beings. Trust can easily be broken which can lead to financial, sexual and physical harm for you. Have great foresight and insight in your dealings with fellow human beings Know for a fact,. human beings pretend a lot especially when they have a hidden agenda or when they are pursuing their own survival.

d)      Seek appropriate help in time from honest and wise people including professionals: before you take an action and also when you run into difficulty. It will help you to get out of trouble. We call this “seeking help”, counselling.

e)      Always receive and seek to receive life enhancing instructions/education, proper training and skills to enable and prepare you for life. Be a perpetual seeker of knowledge, whatever you may become in life.

f)       Be always economically productive in legitimate ways. It will help to keep your mind and body as well as your dependants together. With this, you can avoid so many troubles that befall others. Empty hands they say, is devils workshop: meaning you could cause harm to others and yourself if you are not productively engaging your mind and hands.

g)   If you do happen to break down mentally and/or physically, be quick to admit your vulnerability. Do not delay. Time wasting may be costly to your health. Ask for help from professionals, assisted by your friends and families. Self-medication and self-help has its limitations.