Health and body care

Good health is very important for everyone and that's why we must pay attention to it. Nowadays good
health is accepted as a normal by most people who live in developed countries. This had resulted
partly from improved standards of prenatal and child care, hygiene, nutrition (výživa), and preventive
medicine, partly from better educational methods and communication, and partly from the
advances (pokrok) that have been made in all areas of medical science.
Unfortunately, many people take good health for granted (jako dané) and don´t treat (zacházet) their
bodies with care and consideration. (ohled)
The human body is permanently being attacked by many different kinds of bacteries, microorganisms
and viruses. Most diseases can be prevented or at least controlled. What’s important is healthy
nutrition, a well-adjusted (nastavená) mind, good sleeping habits and activity in the fresh air and, last
but not least, contact with nature as well.
We cannot get out of mind the medical care. Medical care of any type in our country used to be free of
charge (bezplatná) but nowadays it depends on in which country you are living, because  somewhere
e.g. in Prague, there is an one-shot payment – 30 kč for every visit. There are also many private
doctors. If we fall ill or if we have an accident, we go to the Health Centre, Policlinic, and Hospital or to
some Private Doctor.
When we decide to see our physician (lékař) in his surgery (ordinace) we must take health insurance
Company’s card with us and in some cases also our vaccination certificate. We can either make an
appointment for our medical examination/check up (prohlídku) or go directly. It’s important to know the
surgery hours. If there are other patients waiting, we must wait in the waiting room too. As soon as our
turn comes the nurse calls us.
The doctor asks how we feel, what problems are we having and what’s bothering us. There are
various types of medical treatment (ošetření) for our different types of troubles. A doctor may ask you
to strip to the waist before he/she examines (prohlídne) your chest and throat. They check our blood
pressure, feel the pulse or put our blood or urine through lab-tests. Sometimes they may X-ray our
lungs or bones. After the examination the doctor prescribe for us one or more prescriptions and sets a
date when we should see him again. After that we go to the pharmacy. There we get medicines
according to the prescriptions that we have got from our practitioner e.g. tablets, pills, drops, ointments
(mast), syrup etc. We take the medicines according to the information leaflet or doctor’s advice.
In childhood most of us suffer (trpí) from some infectious diseases such as chicken-pox (plané
neštovice), mumps (příušnice), measles (spalničky), scarlet fever (spála) and rubella (zarděnky).
Children are vaccinated against some of the other ones. Vaccines are administered (podávány)
against typhus, tetanus, small-pox (neštovice), whooping-cough (černý kašel), tuberculosis, polio
(obrna), etc. There are illnesses and injuries, however, which cannot be helped by any vaccine.
Each person should undergo (podstoupit) a regular check-up at least once a year. However we usually
go to see our doctor when we do not feel well or have some regular problems with our health. We can
suffer from various common illnesses. Usually we suffer from common infections such as colds
(nachlazení), influenza (chřipka), bronchitis (kašel), sore throat (bolení v krku), tonsillitis (angína) or
the stomach ache. In such cases we usually stay in bed, drink herbal teas, take pills, drops or vitamins
and after a week or two we feel better again. However the situation may be sometimes more serious
and needs special treatment (ošetření) in the hospital e.g. heart attack, breaking an arm or leg,
diabetes, hepatitis. There are still diseases which can't be cured at all such as cancer or AIDS. It is
true that prevention is better than a cure.

Everyone knows that getting fit is good for you; everyone wants to look good, to be fit, to be slim,
strong and suppleness (pohyblivý). If we want to be healthy, we also must eat wholesome (zdravá)
foods. It means less fat meals and more fruits and vegetables. We should try to live a healthy way of
life, which means we should have a good proportion of work to leisure time.
Getting in shape (vytvarovat se) has never been more popular. For millions of people around the
world, a regular exercise is now part of their daily lives. Some people prefer cycling, jogging or
swimming while others prefer to work-out (cvičit) in gyms, do aerobics or play teams sports.
We can see a kind of a fitness revolution over the last twenty years. Why? Because fit people live
longer than unfit people, especially those who smoke, drink, take drugs and don‘t eat healthy. That‘s
why more and more people are taking regular exercises to become and stay healthy. In today‘s world
there is enormous pressure on both men and women to look as young and attractive as possible. It is
also another reason for the fitness boom. Fit people not only feel good, they look good, too.   
There are a lot of kinds of exercises and each has another effect on the body. There are some for
improve your strength-like weightlifting. Others as a yoga or dance improve your suppleness. Then
e.g. aerobic improves your stamina (vitalita).
The advantages of being fit are e.g. reducing the risk of heart attack and increasing strength, stamina
and suppleness. Being fit means that you sleep better and don‘t get tired easily. It helps you to lose
weight, increase the size and tone of yours muscles and makes you feel healthier, happier and more
positive.

First aid
First aid is basic knowledge about injuries (body damage). It is used at accidents to help stop more
serious harm from happening to an injured person until he receives medical treatment (help by
doctors, nurses or ambulance paramedics). A person does not need a lot of equipment to give first aid.
Because of this, it can be done just about anywhere.
Goals of first aid
The goals of first aid - what you want to do - are called the "Four P's":
  Preserve life - stop the person from dying
  Prevent further injury - stop the person from being injured even more
  Promote recovery - try to help the person heal his injuries
  Protect the unconscious - those who cannot protect themselves
Training
You need very good training to give first aid. Training is given by a very experienced (lots of
knowledge) medical person, for example a doctor or a nurse. The level of training needed to be a first
aid giver changes from country to country - for example, in the UK you can go on a 1-day course to
become a first aid giver for anything, and a 4-day course for emergencies in a place of work.