Keeping fit and staying healthy hav

Keeping fit and staying healthy have, not surprisingly, become a growing industry. Quite apart from the amount of money spent each year on doctors prescriptions and medical treatment, huge sums are now spent on healthy food and drugs of various kind, from vitamin pills to mineral water, not to mention health clubs and books and videos about keeping fit. We are more concerned than ever, it seems, about the water we drink and the air we breathe, and are smoking less, though not yet drinking less alcohol. This does not appear to mean that coughs and sneezes have been banished, or that we can all expect to live to a hundred. To give a personal example, one of my friends, who is a keeping-fit fanatic, a non-smoker (and teetotaler), and who is very particular about what he eats, is at present lying in bed with a wrist in a cast and a badly sprained ankle. Part of his healthy lifestyle is to play squash every day after work, and that accounts for the ankle. He also cycles everywhere, and if you have ever tried to cycle through rush-hour traffic with a sprained ankle, you will understand how he acquired the broken wrist. For health, it seems, is not just a matter of a good diet and plenty of exercise. Too much exercise can be harmful, as many joggers have discovered. Eating the right food can easily become an obsession, as can overworking, which you might have to do to be able to afford your membership in the squash club, your mountain bike, your health food, and a few holidays in peaceful and healthy places.