Maintenance Is Better Than Repair

We are all used to the quote which says “Prevention is better than cure”, right?.

We can prevent a car accident from happening by driving in safely manner, and by being alert all the time. Of late, we see lots of people using their handphones while driving. And more dangerously, they even dare to read or write text SMS while driving. I used to do that too, but I’ve slowly stopped doing that, in the name of safety. I’ve seen a real video footage of a nasty car accident caused by a driver who was not paying attention while driving. His car knocked down a female pedestrian crossing a road, and she died.

In that particular scenario, the word “prevent” plays the most important role. Those are the scenarios where we can prevent something bad from happening.

But, when we talk about health, how do we prevent from something bad from happening? I mean, talking about disease, or sickness? Can we prevent everything?

Let’s just take an example on dental care. How many of us who rarely get dental problems think that taking care of our teeth is also part of healthy living? For what I know, most of us brush our teeth once or twice a day because we want to get rid of tahi gigi.

Bila masa pulak gigi kita pandai berak ni? Woops, pardon my budu language here.

In actual fact, taking care of our dental is one of the most important aspects of health. Just because we seldom get toothache, that doesn’t mean it is not important. And the way we used to prevent from dental problems to occur is by brushing our teeth, at least once a day. But as we also know, brushing our teeth alone is not enough. We need more than that.

Just as we need to send our cars for maintenance servicing so that they do not eventually cause a massive repair job, same thing for our teeth. At least once a year, we need to send our teeth for a maintenance servicing, before we end up with a massive repair job. That is, if repair is still one of the options.

Not being a good boy, I’ve neglected this maintenance service for a good four years. The last time I visited a dentist was more than four years ago, when I had to do the very painful root canal treatment. The moment I stepped out from that dental clinic, I never made a visit back again.

Until yesterday, when I can’t take it any longer with some food keep on sticking up in between my teeth every time I eat. I finally made another visit to the dentist. No, I didn’t go to Taiping to see Doctor Julinda (she’s busy running). I just went to a nearby dentist for some scaling, polishing and some filling up work. Furthermore, the validity of the dental insurance from my company is going to end in 30 day or so. Hence, better make use of it.

The scaling job was a bit nasty. We are talking about a bunch of teeth that has not been ‘serviced’ for several years. Not that I have a bad breath or rotten teeth, but it made me belief that brushing our teeth alone is not enough to properly clean them. That’s why it is recommended that we visit the dentist at least once a year.

The normal polishing job was ok. I asked about whitening too, but I don’t want to spend RM300++ just to get a sparkling white teeth. Yeah, I may be a drama-man, but I’m not a celebrity. And let’s not talk about the whitening process using laser, which costs more than a thousand Ringgit (I better save it for Cervelo.. hihi).

I had to fill up three small holes in my teeth. My jaw was sore from the non-stop jaw opening action. The price for filling up has raised quite tremendously lah. I’m not whether sure it is due to the professional workmanship, or the cost of the filler material, or to compensate for the lack of dental patients coming into the clinic. All in all, I spent a good amount of money, of which I can get myself a new pair of running shoes. Inflation, inflation… sigh.

The funny thing was, the dentist who was very friendly kept on asking me about where I work lah, about what I do at work lah, what kind of products I design lah; all during the time when my mouth was wide open and she was using her tools to clean up my teeth. How to answer lah?

“Hokher… hulut haye herhange hachang hi, hachahane haye hak hakhap?”

If You Still Don't Believe It

If you still find it hard to believe what a good cardio exercise like running can do to your body, see below real story which I copied from Dailymile of one runner friend of mine. He also posted a story about how it all started, which you can read it here

What you need to do is to start, and be consistent at doing it. You'll see the result as the time goes by.

"So what have I achieved within 11 months of running? As at today I've lost 17.5kg, pants size down to 33" from 38" and shirt one size down to 16.5. Primary goal of losing weight achieved! Moving on to the much tougher secondary goals in 2011!"

On a side note, my Powerman story is 50% done.. harap bersabar ye. Story teller is currently busy at work.

Her Name is Sara

She can normally be seen running alone at the garden almost everyday for about one hour each session, starting at 6pm. Her pace was always steady, and pretty fast too. Never did I spoke to her, except for some occasional waves as we passed each other on the opposite side of the run.

And the last time I saw her running was about, ermm, three months ago I guess. Out of a sudden, I realized she’s not there anymore. Even some of my running buddies here noticed about her absence for quite some times. My assumption was, she moved to some other states for working purpose.

Ok, fine with that.

Except for yesterday, when I saw a glimpse from afar of another female runner that the way of her running resembles the swings and strides as the lady I mentioned earlier, only at much slower pace. Just to make sure I didn’t get the wrong person, I gave a chase. And as I came close to her left hand side I braved myself to take a look at the face of this female runner.

Yup, it was her. The same person. But she appeared with slightly longer hair, and it’s not difficult to see that she had gain some weight too.

I didn't feel good running yesterday. Lethargic. Can't even run non stop for more than 30minutes. I stopped to take a breather at this corner after doing two loops to enjoy the evening view overseeing Selat Tebrau and Singapore.

I slowed my pace down and run besides her. For the first time I started a conversation with her, while running. She was a bit shocked at first, since we’ve never talked before. After a little bit of some self-introductory, I asked about her long absence.

Me: “It’s been a while since you last run here. I thought you’ve move to KL or somewhere.”
Her: “No lah. I was sick. I was hospitalized for a few months. Cancer.”

I was dazed as I heard that. The two most common cancer cases for females are breast and cervix. And she told me she got cervical cancer.

“Fortunately it was detected at a very early stage. And I’ve got it removed. Luckily, or else I would have to do chemotherapy which I don’t want to. I want to keep my hair.”, she told me.

I can’t imagine how her feeling was when she first discovered about the cancer. I can’t imagine how suffering she has been during the operation, and after the operation. I can’t imagine how life will be for her. I can’t imagine how it is, to be related to the word of cancer.

We continued exchanging thoughts related to cancer and running, while finishing the last stretch of our runs. She only did one lap, as she just started running this week and as of yesterday, she still looked a bit weak. I was already on my last lap, out of three. At one point she thought I am a medical practitioner. She looked a bit surprised when I cited a few cancer-related terms that not many people use on daily basis.

“So, what makes you run?”, was my final question to her.

“Because it is something that I love to do. Plus, I like to eat too. So this is the only way for me to balance things up.”, she replied.

And when she returned the same question to me;

“I run because I do triathlon”.

I immediately felt embarrassed, as it abruptly made me realize that I actually don’t really love or don’t have passion in running.

Hang on, I don’t think I have any passions in anything at all.

By the way, as for Sara, I hope she will survive much longer. And I somehow believe, that the spirit of a runner will keep her moving positively in life.

It Is Modifiable

In the last two or three years, I heard about few cases of relatively young people (in their 20's and 30's) died of heart attack. What scares me is the fact on how they died. Majority were sudden deaths. Unexpectedly.

No one can avoid death, no matter what we do and who we are. Everybody will die. And of course we can never tell when we will die. Triathletes will die, so do non-athletes.

The thing is, death comes with a reason.

Be it an accident, a brain or breast cancer, being shot to death, chemical poisoning, diabetes, bitten by a snake, or a heart attack.

Yes, some people may say our death is already fated. I agree.

But, do we know what is fated for us?

Therefore, can I say that we can work it out on how we don’t want out fate to be?

What a tricky question it is.

Let’s take a simpler look. Imagine this. At the age of 17, do we know that we are going to be poor and homeless when we get to 25 years old?

But, why are we trying our best during university or school exams to get good grades, which later will increase our possibilities to get good jobs with good salary which in the end, make us not being poor and homeless at the age of 25?

And why are we still working hard day in and day out nowadays?

Same as the reason for death, I think. Especially when I think about heart attack as the cause of death of young people nowadays.

And just so you know, one of the other main reason why I started doing endurance sports and taking care of my fitness is, so that I won’t get any heart related diseases which will lead to a heart attack.

As a normal guy who wants to have a better quality of life for as long as Allah’s willing, I know I have to do something to at least, maintain and take good care of my health. Thus, I want to live a healthy lifestyle.

Recently, as I was walking passing by a clinic, I saw a very good, though a bit old looking poster hanging on the wall inside the clinic. So I went inside, and took out my cell phone to capture the image, so that I can share it with you all in this blog.

Risk factors for Coronary Heart Disease.
Whether you are the victim or not, it’s your own choice.

These are the factors that you cannot change.

You can modify your eating habit, don’t you?
Educate yourself, and choose wisely.

Now we see why exercise is also an important factor for a healthy lifestyle.

Our lifestyle is indeed, modifiable.
We have the power to choose.
To be, or not to be.

P/s: Putting sports and health aspects aside, we as Muslim must also always remember that we have to prepare ourselves for the life after death. Sukan-sukan juga, ibadah jangan diabaikan. (This is mainly to remind myself).

How do I look?

Some people are more concerned about how they appear on the outlook, on the physical body shape and size, regardless how fit or healthy they are, and regardless what they stuff inside the tummy.

Some are only obsessed with the numbers showing on the weighing scale, regardless how much or less cholesterol are building up in their arteries. They might choose certain diet programs, or might also sign up at those instant slimming centers. Some might end up being a runner just to maintain a good number on the weighing scale.

But I believe there are also some people who are more concerned with their fitness and health level, regardless how they look, and regardless how much they weigh.

I was once in the first category. I would feel good if I can keep using the pants or jeans which I’ve been using previously (size wise). I did a little bit of sports though during school. Mainly volleyball, as a mean of making full use of the evening hours, playing with friends, sweating myself out.

It has been 14 years since I left my school. Many of those occasions where we had gatherings, my ex-schoolmates would be comparing each others’ body sizes. How much each of us has ‘grew’ or ‘shrunk’ since we left the school. And I normally end up in the category of those who “did not change at all”.

Unfortunately, there’s no award for that category. Or else I would work harder to be at the top of the list, and hold the title for as long as I could.

I know I have lost few kilos since I actively involved in multisport. At one point, almost everybody who occasionally sees me will give a comment that I looked thinner or getting too thin. I see myself everyday, so I don’t notice if there’s any change.

Hmm. That makes me wonder. I do not keep many photos of myself along the way, and I can’t tell how much I have shrunk, or gained. So I went on searching on how do I look externally, with respect to my Body Mass Index (BMI).

Click here for some article, and here to check your own BMI

My BMI is at 21~22.
Glad to be in the normal weight grouping.

Does it makes me look, too thin?

I feel like I’m in the ”yang sedang-sedang aja” category, don’t you think so?

Addict

An SMS dialogue last night, with one of the cycling buddy here in JB;

HIM: “Kayoh?” (He’s already at the usual meeting point)
ME: ”Ramai ke turun? Aku mcm kureng la mlm ni.. Sapa lagi turun?”
HIM: ”Tkde sape. Lg 10 min kalo tkde org, aku balek.”
ME: ”Sorry bro, aku terkena penyakit malas la mlm ni…”

Yes, I was that lazy to go out and cycle last night. On Tuesday night, I initially had the plan to cycle on the trainer after terawih, but I ended up doing nothing at all.

So last night, in order not to surrender myself to the ‘M’ bug, I hooked up my bike on the trainer and started spinning for a good 1hr 15min.

Well, it was not as good as I expected. I didn’t sweat as much as I normally do. I have no idea why. But it felt weird not to sweat much where I normally would be wetting the floor after the workout. Maybe because of the cool weather (it was raining earlier).

Last week Friday – no training.
The whole Merdeka weekend – no training either. I didn’t count the shopping time I spent as a training OK.

So, only after 5 days of not doing any training, I felt fidgety. To be honest, I even dreamt of doing a triathlon race one of the nights. I thought it was a nightmare!

Is this what people say, addicted to sports?

I hope yes. And I hope it will do good to me.

The question is, does the addiction to sports same as addiction to smoking?

No, I don’t smoke. But I sometimes wonder why people started smoking, and continued smoking. Here are some of what I can randomly think at this moment.

Some boys may have started ‘learning’ how to smoke during school time. Perhaps as early as 12 or 15 years old? But, why?

- To look cool among peers who also smoke? Following ‘trend’?
- To have a taste of being an ‘adult’?
- To ‘try’?

And lately, I see lots of females also join the smoking community. Mainly those young and outgoing ones, not forgetting some university students may also have started smoking nowadays. And again, why?

- To follow the current ‘trend’ where urban girls should smoke to look cool within the society?
- To ‘try’?
- I can’t think of anything else…

My wife (she’s in bio-medic background) once told me that a lady, even though not smoking, is already prone to lots of natural diseases. Smoking will just attract the diseases to go to them even faster, unknowingly to them of course.

If we ask those who smoke on the reasons why they smoke, we’ll be hearing reasons like these:

”If I don’t smoke aah, my brain not working leh. Sure cannot think one!”

“Hey, my father smokes. My brothers also smoke. So, why can’t I smoke? If my cat knows how to smoke aah, sure it also smoke you know.”

“Come on la, you are a sissy la if you don’t smoke, you know?”

“Why you bother? I buy cigs with my money, not your money. And it’s my lungs la, not yours”

Yes, people are free to give whatever responses they wanted to. Mainly they will turn into a self defense mode, and come out with whatever logics that are on their sides. Let’s not judge them yet.

Anyway, it’s too bad. Bad for their own body and health, and to others too.

I know, smoking is addictive (from reading). It’s the nicotine inside it. I don’t know how addictive it is in the real smoking situation, and I may not be able to even imagine it. But my interest is on how one can change the habit, or ‘kill’ the addiction.

For me, I think, everything is inside the brain. It’s the mind who will have the final say.

Like in doing triathlon or other multisports, from nothing, we started off with having the mindset (to do it), and proceeded with some actions (training continuously), and finally we’ll feel the beauty and sensation of crossing the finishing line, whatever our ‘numbers’ would be.

Same as for someone who wants to quit smoking. The mindset has to be right at the first place. Make a firm decision to totally quit smoking, and follow that with the commitment to take all necessary actions, and one day, sooner or later, you will have the power to even reject cigarette offers from friends.

Furthermore, if my guess is right, that many people smoke because they want to follow the current trend, than this will be even simpler.

The issue is, do you WANT to smoke?

Or, do you HAVE to smoke?

If you can answer this question sincerely, you’ll be one step closer to having the right mindset towards quitting smoking.

And if I can do my guessing game again, I would say majority will choose to answer that they WANT to smoke, for whatever reasons they may have.

“WANT” is a desire.

“HAVE” is a necessity, an obligation.

So, how to fight the smoking desire, the addiction?

Easy. Fight it with an obligation.

Tell yourself it’s the time that you HAVE to stop smoking. Set it as a self obligation to start a better lifestyle, a smoking free lifestyle. And follow it with the proper actions, with your utmost commitment to achieve the target.

Many have succeeded, and so can you. Just believe in yourself, and don’t be bothered with what the society may say. You control yourself, you control your success.

"There Will Be No Success Without Discipline & Sacrifice. To Be, Or Not To Be..."

Precautions

It's getting scarrier to see what's on the news lately. Casualties here and there, relating to the influenza A H1N1 virus.

With that, I've decided not to go to any public swimming pools for the time being. Fortunately it's now the off-season period (from any triathlon events), so skipping a few swimming workouts hopefully won't do any harm to the muscles 'memory'. And putting the risk of H1N1 as the main reason for not swimming at public pools, would not leave me with a deep feeling of guilt.

I've been wanting to do one or two swims in a week, just to maintain the stamina and endurance fitness. But, perhaps I should take it as an opportunity to spend more time on the tarmac instead.

So, let us all be more on the cautious side line, and not risk ourselves with the influenza virus.

Yesterday morning, I saw this hand drawing of a scenery of trees, mountains, house and a sun rise being drawn on the dew covered back sreen of my car. Might be drawn by the neighbouring 9 ~ 10 years old kids, or might be by my 30++ years old housemates! Ahahaha. Anyway, it made my day!

Free Tests

Yes, I love FREE stuffs. Who doesn’t, right?

Though what was advertised did not come out 100%, there was a free blood pressure and urine test (and supposedly a cholesterol test) held at my working place today. Free test, so I did not let go of that chance.

Three leng-lui were already in the conference room upstairs, waiting for employees to come and get their free deals of tests. From downstairs, I walked up the staircase (which may have boosted a little bit of my blood pressure and heart rate pulse) and was then given a colorful strip.

”Ok, you pee on all five colors ya…”, I was told by one of them.

Hmm, this is kind of new to me. I thought I would be given the usual transparent urine container with yellow cap that I used to be given every time I do urine test. I still remember on my very first urine test which I did for a medical check-up, I almost overflowed the urine container. Can’t stop the pee, and the medical office never told me to fill it up, or just to gather a little bit of urine (well, I was a naïve 17 years old boy that time, and it was in the morning after a breakfast, surely my bladder was full maa).

Ok, back to the colorful urine strip.

I was just done with my morning rituals before heading up to the conference room, and it was not without a little bit of ‘forcing’ that I managed to wet the urine test strip. Not much of what I anticipated to happen to the strip (I was hoping to see some blinking or shining or discoloration to the strip), but it just stayed on with the original colors, only this time wet with my pee on it.

The strip was then being analyzed very scientifically with the precision ability of the eyes to match the color on the strip, with the reference they had on the bottle of the test strips.

My urine test result came out as, ”Hmm, everything looks ok. No blood, no ketone, no glucose, a little bit of protein and the pH was a bit less than normal which means you need to drink more water”

I almost shouted, ”What?? No glucose? But I’m an athlete and I just had a breakfast of nasi lemak and you are saying that there’s no glucose? How on earth am I going to run a marathon next week without any glucose in my body hah?”

Suddenly I realized that this is only a urine test, not a blood test.

If there is glucose in my urine, that would mean that I have diabetic problem. Thank goodness. Phew, luckily I did not sleep during biology lectures during schooldays.

Next was the blood pressure and pulse test. It was done with the electronic device at which I need to slid in the arm band above the elbow, and with one push of a button the device does its job to take the measurements.

Everything’s under control. Not high of a possibility for me to turn green and tear off my shirts and jeans and shoes today.

”I’m resting today lah... I’ll go broke if everyday needs to buy new shirts and jeans and shoes you know…”