No, I don't mean do you shave your legs and put on makeup every day. I mean, do you take care of yourself? Do you make an effort to eat healthy foods? Do you get enough exercise? Do you smoke? Do you have your yearly pelvic exam (or do you turn your head and cough)? Do you take vitamins? Do you drink in moderation?

Do you give yourself mental health breaks? Get enough time to yourself? Take active steps to pull yourself out of bad emotional situations? Avoid stress? How important do you think these things are as compared to the physical aspects of taking care of yourself?

If you feel like you do take care of yourself, is this something you've always done, or did you hit a certain age where you realized it was time? If you don't think you take care of yourself, is it something you think you'll worry about later? Or do you just not care very much? Why do you think that is?

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

Answers

I guess you're all out eating Fritos, or else at the gym, or else you're dead. Damn.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

I was going to answer this, but it's time for my 12-hour eyestrain and typing break.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

So many questions....

I guess I'd fall into the "take care of myself" category. I exercize regularly, drink moderately, eat pretty well (but I usually eat what I want). I didn't do any of these things, though, until I was over 33. About that time I popped up over 200 lbs. (and I'm not a big- boned guy), and I just decided it was time to shape up.

Mind you, this isn't anything I obsess over or anything. As I said, I still pretty much eat what I want. In fact, I'm finishing up a cookies & cream (or, as I prefer to think of it, grains & dairy) milkshake as I write this.

I can't say for sure whether I'll still be doing any of this 5, 10, or 20 years from now, but I hope I am. I really didn't like it when my belly spilled out over the top of my jeans.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

In some ways I take care, others I don't. I'm fat, which some people would say means I'm not taking good care. But I exercise every day, take vitamins, see doctors about various medical conditions, get yearly checkups.

Food is my stumbling block. I just can't believe that things I eat affect anything except my weight - like my cholesterol and heart health. I know all these people who react with horror at the very sight of butter and fatty foods, because "everybody" knows they're so unhealthy. I just don't have that. Here in California, I'm kind of unusual, I think...

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

Physically I take pretty good care of myself but it's something that I didn't always do. It started when I hit 29. I quit smoking. Now, I eat well, exercise 4-5 days week, take a mulitvitamin, get at least 6- 7 hours of sleep at night and drink moderately. But lord if I don't skip those pelvics for 3 or 4 years at a time. I've yet to find a gyno that I want to see a second time. I've gone to my GP more than once to have it done. But I go to the dentist regularly.

Mentally, well let's just say this is where I could do better. Initially, I would have said doing fine here too but you hit a nerve when you mentioned extricating myself from bad emotional situations. I have issues. I need to work on them. I don't have a lot of them though so I don't feel that they have more than a negligible effect on my overall well being.

I used to treat my body like shit so I can honestly say that I know these change are making a big difference in my over all wellness. I feel good just about all the time. I used to feel like I had sandpaper stuck between every joint in my body.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

I have a split personality -- I travel for my job, and when I'm on the road, it's all about me. I take baths to soak my feet when they hurt. I order what I want from room service without having to think about what anyone else wants. I wake up slowly, I watch CNN, I work out. I catch movies, see shows when I'm in NYC, visit with friends.

There's just plain more time to do that when I'm not home, with a husband and two teenage kids.

On the other hand, I'd rather be home, where I don't have time to do any of that stuff. Go figure.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

I started eating better late twenties because it made me feel so much better better almost immediately. No soda or fast food, lots of water, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, less meat and hardly any dairy. My skin freaks out and my moods get erratic when I revert back.

I started flossing regularly just this year. This has been surprisingly difficult for me. I hate doing it at night when I'm tired, so adding it to my morning routine helped somewhat.

I genetically (don't think that's a word) lucked out with a thin frame, so I've never needed to be fit for weight purposes. So it is really hard for me to get motivated to work out. I hate it so much. I bought a pilates mat workout video that makes my achey back feel great, but that doesn't get my heart rate up.

Religious about the pelvic. Had an abnormal one once. Drink a couple times a month socially. I could be happy drinking more often-- I used to love to unwind with a couple drinks on the weekend with my spouse. But now I have to plan on feeling sinus-y and lethargic all the next day-- even from just one drink. And who has time for that?? It isn't worth it but I miss it.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

I religiously floss almost every day, because I'm afraid that if I don't, all my teeth will fall out. (I used to dream this quite a bit.) I have to get the stupid pelvic exams so I can get birth control pills, unfortunately. Last year I had the wonderful experience of having 2 abnormal ones in a row, so I had 3 (!) in the course of six months. Ugh. (The last one was finally "readable," whatever that means.)

I'm still working on the food and exercise thing. I'll do well for a while, then get lazy and non-motivated. I'm also bad at dealing with stress and my mental health often gets neglected.

I do take vitamins and I was finally able to kick the smoking habit (except for very occasionally I backslide) last fall.

We're thinking about having a kid sometime in the next year or two, so I guess I have a lot of incentive to lose weight before that, and start eating more fruits & vegetables. I think I'll try harder to eat better and be more healthy if I know that I am responsible for someone else's health in addition to my own. (The whole kid thing scares me to death but that's another topic by itself.)

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

Way to load on the guilt there, Beth. I've just been thinking the last few days that I've been horribly lame about all these sorts of things lately and I'm pretty disgusted with myself.

Do you make an effort to eat healthy foods? Oh, I make a slight effort, but I'm rarely successful lately. Need to start cooking and stop eating out so much.

Do you get enough exercise? No, and that's just sheer laziness. I pay oodles of money to a gym and rarely go. How pathetic is that?

Do you smoke? Do you have your yearly pelvic exam? Never smoked--I can at least claim that 'virtue.' And I'm good about the pelvic exam thing, too.

Do you take vitamins? Do you drink in moderation? Yes, I try to take a multivitamin every day and I drink in moderation. Or rather, I'm feeling too lazy lately to even open a bottle of wine at night. After work I just collapse in a heap. Feh.

Do you give yourself mental health breaks? Get enough time to yourself? Take active steps to pull yourself out of bad emotional situations? Avoid stress? How important do you think these things are as compared to the physical aspects of taking care of yourself? They're all important, I've just been bad at all of them lately. So I left grad school last year and have had a 'real job' since and I've lost all my free time and energy. My job's pretty cool, it's true, but I have a lot more respect for the notion of 'time management' these days. I need me some of that.

If you don't think you take care of yourself, is it something you think you'll worry about later? Or do you just not care very much? Why do you think that is? I care, I'm just completely beat at the end of the day. I'll never catch up.. my to do lists keep growing, yadda yadda... Not quite sure how to get on top of things here...

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2001

I used to take much better care of myself than I do now. I'm a sophomore in college and I have really been on a backslide health- wise. I try to eat healthy foods, as long as they are also foods that I like. I do not exercise more than absolutely necessary. I have taken so much time to myself that my school work is suffering.

My one step toward health that I am truly proud of us is having stopped smoking. It has been really hard (living with a smoker, hanging out with smoky friends), but I feel good being able to walk up stairs without coughing.

I think I have slid with "healthy" things as part of self- indulgence. I have always tried to hold back when it came to snacks, but lately I just want to be happy and if an extra pack of peanut M&M's will help, so be it.

-- Anonymous, May 28, 2001

I used to, I used to. Eating right and running and drinking water. Backslid, got ug-lee. Oh, and started smoking, out of no where. Tried to fix it, was doing beautifully, and have recently gone straight back to hell, again.

But I'm back from vacation, now, my cut off point, and I'm starting again. I feel more awake, more alive, more comfortable in my skin when I'm even just trying to be healthy - before my body even starts to register the change. The confidence also starts to head back up - I've been having that icky little crisis, as well.

-- Anonymous, May 28, 2001

I didn't take care of myself for far too long and after several wake- up calls, I reached whatever point one reaches to make "me" a priority. I now exercise regularly, eat well (most of the time), take vitamins daily, drink tons of water, have a period of the day that is strictly mine to do with what I wish, get plenty of sleep and address emotional issues head on whenever possible. I never smoked and I rarely drink - those things have not changed.

My life is 100% different and all for the better.

Retrospect, being the magnifying mirror it can be, allows me to see how terribly unhappy, unhealthy and stressed out I was when I was not taking care of myself. I could not, for the life of me (no pun), see it at the time.

I do not want that for myself again. No way.

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

Not really no...

I quit smoking in February due to a bout with strep throat (though I admit I'll smoke a few when I'm out at a club). Quit drinking at the same time. Quit caffiene up until two weeks ago (Mountain Dew Slurpees were too much for me to resist.) I ate well up until I got sick... then I started down the evil path of fast food. I've mostly given that up now, though I think I'm going to have Taco Bell for lunch. I have my yearly pelvic, even though Kaiser only requires it every two years. I haven't exercised since February, though last night I did a little yoga, started my situps again, and attempted to do my arm curls again (it's amazing how quickly one's muscles atrophy).

I don't take vitamins, though I should. I'd probably feel a lot better. I don't take mental health breaks, which probably aided in my breakdown in early March. Panic attacks galore! Now I'm in therapy for anxiety (which is pretty much gone away) and I'm taking Zoloft. I'm pretty good about pulling myself out of mentally/emotionally destructive situations, unless I'm inflicting them on myself (see anxiety.)

I'm trying really hard to do better things for my body, especially since February I've been sick everytime I turn around. I'm starting to get concerned. I got strep throat, then a virus, anxiety problems, panic attacks, a yeast infection, then a bacterial infection, then a yeast infection again, a sinus infection, conjunctivitis, a hellacious cold, and now I think I have another sinus infection and conjunctivitis again. I'm so tired of this...

I'm so tempted to just go back to abusing my body with cigarettes and alcohol and bad food. I was never sick up until I started treating my body right... it makes no sense damnit!

www.marred.org

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001

Word to that, Mar. I've never been so good about vitamins and 7 hours of sleep and sunblock and vegetables as I have this year, and I've never been so consistently ill. When I did feel the best, I was smoking, recreationally using drugs, sleeping erratically and sometimes staying up for fun, not exercising, fucking the unwashed hip, working a crap food job, drinking constant caffeine and a particularly foul combination of vodka and koolaid, and eating only bread and seasonal fruits until I would get sores on my tongue from the vitamin C.

Ah, youth. Time of great knees, clear sinuses, energy at 3 am. I'm beginning to think that I have to be really serious about this feeling good thing, and but damn I hate being really serious.

-- Anonymous, May 30, 2001