Saturday, April 28, 2007

Healthy, Wealthy & Wise \ (^_^) /



A couple of nights ago, I accompanied my mom to pick up my brother Asyraf from his hostel. We left the house right after performing Maghrib prayer. On the way to Tumpat where my brother’s hostel is situated, I realized that my state, Kelantan was not the same as it was in the previous two months. Last two months, I came home for a short holiday, running away from the hectic campus life. This difference now was very apparent especially when the night came. All I can see were more neon lamps were lighting up the roads, more new food stalls were run and the city seemed that it would never fall asleep again. People are too busy even at night! I felt a little excitement seeing all those latest things. It won’t get that far if you want to find a good restaurant or a food-stall with cheap tasty foodstuff, just in case if your stomach suddenly starts growling when you are driving on the road.

“Wow, look at that! It’s very attractive!” I pointed out towards a dazzling new restaurant as we passed by it.

“It was opened last three weeks,” said mom.

“Really?” I was quite amazed upon knowing that because from my mom’s UNSER, I noticed that almost all the tables arranged outside that restaurant were fully occupied.

The customers were eating leisurely with either their friends or relatives. D’Kantan is its name. The premise was actually an old wooden house rent by the family of my sister’s teacher. When they moved out, the place was turned into a restaurant with some renovation made. There is a pergola at the centre of the compound. The landscape looked like matches the theme of the restaurant, the feel of countryside. I assumed that the owner of this place is an opportunist since he can draw attention of more people than other restaurants nearby. That’s one of the criteria to become a successful businessman, “being able to read and interpret the situation by thinking differently”.

As we were arriving at Asyraf’s hostel, I came to a thought that the lifestyle of today’s society is one of the causes of escalating number of serious diseases people are suffering from; the diabetes mellitus, hypertension, atherosclerosis, stroke, myocardial infarction, angina and variety of fatal diseases in the list to complete the whole package. Going out to the workplace early at dawn, coming home late at dusk, going out again for dinner in the middle of the night and getting to bed only when the first dew dropped onto the head…these are the common scenario now. It’s good to eat outside at night to release the burden of day works but a habit of having a heavy meal at midnight, for example, isn’t good for human health. Yes, this is what’s taking place around us.

As a matter of fact, my dad (may Allah shower His blessing upon his soul) died 4 years ago because of hypertension which then led to stroke. His body was half-paralysed for one month before he passed away. There was one habit that he had not left before he was diagnosed as a diabetic patient and being hospitalized right after that; having tea or coffee at any coffee-house nearby our home or his office, in the night or in the day. Everybody knows that the tea or coffee sold in many coffee-houses is over-filled with sugar and it feels nice to the tongue. Luckily, after several days admitted to the university hospital, the blood glucose level returned to normal. It was not the end of the story as dad’s blood pressure level was still far beyond the border-line and that made him suffer from stroke until the end of his life.

What I want to share here is that, we have to watch our diet & lifestyle carefully because they can become a silent killer of ourselves if they are not well-managed. Even our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had said that most of the diseases are derived from the stomach. Muhammad was not a medical doctor or a physiologist but he knew about this fact and reminded people to eat and do things moderately. I also agree with my Biomedicine professor’s sensible words, Dr. Naeem Hassan Khan;

“Early to bed, early to rise…Keeps man healthy, wealthy and wise”

These words seem to have been taken for granted today. Accordingly, will we become a true wealthy and wise man only by sacrificing our health? Aha, whatever the situation is, bear in mind that you can make a change!

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