💚 Keeping Healthy

Preventive medicine, sensible monitoring and recognising change early

Keep it real

Keeping healthy is not about chasing perfection. It is about reducing avoidable risk, maintaining the systems that keep the body working, and identifying important problems before they become harder to treat. A small number of behaviours and routine checks influence the heart, lungs, brain and nerves, gut and endocrine system at the same time.

1. One body, connected systems

The body systems covered in Neurohaven’s Physical Health section are closely linked. Changes in one system can affect several others, which is why prevention is often shared rather than organ-specific.

2. Know your baseline

Preventive health starts with knowing the things that can change risk even before symptoms appear. Not everyone needs constant measurement, but some basic information is worth knowing and reviewing at appropriate intervals.

• Blood pressure: High blood pressure commonly causes no symptoms but increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease and vascular damage.
• Cholesterol: A lipid profile helps estimate atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk when interpreted alongside age, blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and family history.
• Blood glucose / HbA1c: Can identify diabetes or increased metabolic risk before obvious symptoms develop.
• Weight and waist, where useful: These are imperfect measures but can contribute to assessment of metabolic and cardiovascular risk when interpreted sensibly.
• Family history: Premature heart disease, stroke, diabetes, inherited cancers, sudden cardiac death and some neurological or endocrine disorders can change personal risk.
• Medication and substance use: Prescription medicines, over-the-counter products, supplements, alcohol, nicotine and recreational drugs can all influence physical health.

3. Move your body

Physical activity is one of the few interventions that benefits almost every major body system at once. It supports cardiovascular fitness, insulin sensitivity, bone strength, muscle function, mood, sleep, cognition and functional independence.

• Aerobic activity: Walking, cycling, swimming and similar activity strengthen cardiovascular and respiratory fitness.
• Strength: Resistance exercise helps preserve muscle, bone and metabolic health, particularly with ageing.
• Mobility and balance: Useful for maintaining movement, reducing falls risk and protecting independence.
• Reduce prolonged sitting: Being active at some points in the week does not completely cancel long periods of sedentary behaviour. Breaking up sitting time is worthwhile.

The best exercise is usually the form you can continue. Activity can be adapted for disability, pain, cardiovascular disease or respiratory disease rather than abandoned altogether. Significant symptoms during exertion should be assessed.

4. Eat for health, not perfection

Healthy eating does not require a “clean” diet, detox programme or perfect nutrient tracking. The overall pattern matters more than individual superfoods.

• Eat a varied range of vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds where tolerated
• Include adequate protein from appropriate sources
• Choose unsaturated fats more often than large amounts of saturated fat
• Include enough fibre for bowel and metabolic health, increasing gradually if needed
• Limit excessive salt, free sugars and highly processed foods
• Drink enough fluid, especially during heat, illness or exercise
• Keep alcohol exposure low
• Use supplements for a clear nutritional or medical reason rather than as a substitute for food

A healthy diet should still be flexible. Medical conditions, allergies, sensory differences, gastrointestinal disease, culture, cost and eating-disorder risk all affect what is realistic and appropriate.

5. Sleep is physical health

Sleep is not simply downtime. It influences attention, memory, appetite, glucose regulation, blood pressure, immune function, mood and pain. Chronic sleep disruption can therefore affect several body systems at once.

• Keep wake time reasonably consistent where possible
• Give sleep enough opportunity rather than relying on catching up indefinitely
• Reduce late-evening caffeine and other stimulants
• Review alcohol if sleep is fragmented
• Treat persistent insomnia appropriately
• Seek assessment for loud snoring, witnessed breathing pauses, choking during sleep or marked daytime sleepiness

6. Avoid the big preventable harms

• Smoking: One of the largest preventable causes of cardiovascular, respiratory and cancer-related illness. Stopping smoking benefits health at any age.
• Vaping: Generally avoids many harms of tobacco combustion, but it is not physiologically neutral and offers no health benefit to people who do not smoke or use nicotine.
• Alcohol: Higher exposure increases risks including hypertension, atrial fibrillation, liver disease, several cancers, accidents and mental-health problems. Alcohol is not required for heart health.
• Recreational drugs: Stimulants, opioids, sedatives and other substances can affect the heart, brain, breathing, liver, metabolism and medication safety. Risk often increases when substances are combined.
• Supplements and “natural” products: Natural does not automatically mean safe. Products can interact with medicines, affect the liver or kidneys, alter blood pressure or contain poorly characterised ingredients.

7. Prevent disease before symptoms appear

Some of the most effective healthcare happens before anyone feels ill. Screening, vaccination and routine checks are designed to identify risk or disease earlier, when prevention or treatment may be more effective.

• Vaccination: Keep routine and risk-based vaccinations up to date. Recommendations vary by age, pregnancy, occupation and medical conditions.
• Cancer screening: Take part in appropriate national screening programmes when invited and discuss significant family history with a clinician.
• NHS Health Check: For eligible adults in England, this provides structured assessment of cardiovascular and metabolic risk.
• Dental care: Oral health affects eating, pain, infection and quality of life and should not be treated as separate from general health.
• Vision and hearing: Changes can affect safety, cognition, communication and independence and may develop gradually.
• Sexual and reproductive health: Contraception, STI testing, reproductive symptoms, menopause and sexual function are legitimate aspects of physical health.
• Bone health: Age, menopause, long-term steroid treatment, low body weight, smoking and some endocrine conditions can increase osteoporosis risk.

8. Medicines matter

Medication can prevent disease, relieve symptoms and prolong life — but benefit depends on using it safely and consistently.

• Know what each regular medicine is for
• Take important long-term medicines consistently
• Do not stop steroids, anticonvulsants, cardiovascular drugs or other significant treatments suddenly without appropriate advice
• Check over-the-counter medicines and supplements for interactions
• Report significant side effects rather than simply abandoning treatment
• Keep an up-to-date medication list
• Review medicines periodically when multiple drugs are prescribed

“Natural” and “prescription” are not opposites of safe and unsafe. Safety depends on the substance, dose, evidence, interactions and individual clinical context.

9. Mental health, ADHD and physical health

Mental and physical health affect each other continuously. The practical issue is not whether a symptom is “physical” or “psychological”, but what mechanisms may be contributing and what needs attention.

• ADHD: Can make medication routines, meal timing, sleep, appointments, exercise and long-term prevention harder to maintain. Health plans work better when they are simple, visible and easy to repeat.
• Anxiety: Can produce very physical symptoms including palpitations, breathlessness, dizziness, gastrointestinal disturbance and muscle tension — but physical symptoms should not automatically be attributed to anxiety.
• Depression: Can reduce activity, appetite quality, sleep, self-care and healthcare engagement and can be both a consequence and contributor to chronic physical illness.
• Chronic illness: Can affect confidence, relationships, employment, sleep and mood. Psychological support may therefore be part of good physical healthcare rather than evidence that symptoms are “all in the mind”.

10. Notice change early

Most symptoms are not emergencies, and many have benign causes. What matters is recognising patterns that deserve assessment — particularly symptoms that are severe, persistent, progressive, unexplained or markedly different from usual.

11. Health maintenance across adulthood

Preventive priorities change with age, medical history and individual risk. The aim is not to medicalise normal ageing, but to use opportunities for prevention intelligently.

12. A few things you do not need

• Detoxes: The liver, kidneys, lungs and gastrointestinal tract already perform normal detoxification and waste processing.
• “Immune boosting”: The immune system needs regulation, not indiscriminate stimulation. Vaccination, nutrition, sleep and appropriate medical care are more meaningful.
• Routine commercial microbiome testing: Interesting science does not yet mean every healthy person benefits from consumer stool testing.
• Hormone optimisation without diagnosis: Hormones should be investigated and treated for a defined clinical reason, not because a wellness range promises “optimal” performance.
• Huge supplement stacks: More supplements do not equal more health and can create interactions, cost and false reassurance.
• Perfect lifestyles: Health behaviours should be sustainable. A workable routine repeated most of the time usually matters more than an intense plan that lasts two weeks.

13. When to arrange a routine health review

You do not need to wait until something becomes urgent. A routine GP, pharmacist or other appropriate clinical review can be useful when a pattern is persistent, recurrent or beginning to affect everyday function.

• Repeatedly raised home blood-pressure readings or a strong cardiovascular family history
• Persistent fatigue, unexplained weight change, excessive thirst or other possible metabolic/endocrine symptoms
• Ongoing cough, wheeze, breathlessness or reduced exercise tolerance
• Recurrent palpitations, dizziness or fainting episodes that have not been assessed
• Persistent bowel change, reflux, abdominal symptoms or gastrointestinal symptoms affecting nutrition
• New numbness, tingling, tremor, headaches, balance change or cognitive symptoms that persist or progress
• Sleep problems that continue despite sensible self-care, especially snoring, apnoea symptoms or major daytime sleepiness
• Medication side effects, difficulty taking important medicines consistently, or uncertainty about interactions and supplements
• A noticeable change in menstrual, menopausal, sexual or hormonal symptoms
• Any symptom that is repeatedly interfering with work, mobility, sleep, relationships or normal activities

Keeping Healthy — the Neurohaven checklist

A compact medical-maintenance checklist for everyday life. It is not a diagnostic tool and not every item applies to every person.

When to get urgent help

Know your body. Protect your health.

Small, repeatable actions can protect several body systems at once.

Clinical note

This page is a general educational overview and cannot account for individual diagnoses, disability, pregnancy, medicines or personal risk. Screening and preventive-health recommendations vary with age, sex, medical history and location; individual advice should follow current NHS or specialist guidance where appropriate.