Veterans serve their nations and lay down their lives to protect the people. In the trenches, they face all sorts of harmful and life-threatening scenarios, which exposes them to many toxic and harmful substances, for example, gun powder, smoke, extreme weather, asbestos, etc. Such harmful substances lead to high susceptibility to infections and chronic diseases.
If you’re among these people or know anyone that’s worked in such environments, read on, as this article can help you improve the quality of life of a mesothelioma patient.
Asbestos inhalation majorly leads to mesothelioma, which unfortunately can’t be detected in its early stages. Thus, to detect mesothelioma in its early stages, it’s vital for people working in environments with high asbestos exposure to take pre-emptive care. If you know anyone dealing with similar symptoms, you can help them by finding doctors, medical specialists, and clinics that specifically deal with such treatments.
Different Ways to Stay Fit After Fighting at the Front Lines
For instance, going to a mesothelioma veterans center can help detect asbestos infections and even mesothelioma in its early stages. These centers have full treatment plans, the best doctors, and veteran affairs (VA) benefits.
While we’re on the topic of asbestos exposure, let’s look at the different types of asbestos that can lead to infections or ailments that are likely to become terminal. Asbestos chemicals include Chrysotile, Amosite, Crocidolite, Tremolite, Anthophyllite, and Actinolite. Furthermore, asbestos can be brittle in some materials, and this friability can lead to severe respiratory infections.
Even though mesothelioma is terminal, patients suffering this fate can still improve their quality of life by keeping their immunity high. Regular exercise, a healthy sleep schedule, and a diet plan can do wonders for these patients’ mental and physical wellbeing. Let’s look at how some of these aspects make a difference.
Focus on Mental Health
After returning from the front lines, veterans often have severe mental conditions that must be treated. The three most common mental health conditions for veterans are:
- PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder)
- Depression
- Traumatic Brain Injury
Mental health often goes hand in hand with their general well-being, so it needs to be given due importance. To live a healthy life, veterans should take precautions if they’re dealing with symptoms or mental conditions and immediately seek professionals when necessary.
Military veterans are at an advantage here as the state will likely provide them healthcare facilities with specialists to help start treatment as early as possible. Some treatments need professionals, while others require support groups or family and friends.
1. Psychotherapy: Depending on your mental health concern, your counselor might put you in a group therapy session or one-on-one session. In basic terms, navigating your problems to find the root of it all through talking to a professional can help you make significant progress.
2. Mindfulness: Care providers in this field have constructed many mindfulness-based activities that have shown positive results in patients suffering from depression and stress. These activities help veterans rewire their brains to bring them to the present moment, pay attention to their daily life, and not dwell on their past.
3. Medication: Many effective medications have been invented for these purposes, especially for depression, which you can use after getting a proper prescription.
4. Communication: Sometimes, simply communicating your stresses and worries to your closest family and friends can help you get a different perspective and be beneficial.
Mental health treatment helps veterans in the long run. Exposure to war can take a heavy toll on mental health, so it’s important to seek medical help if they want to start living a good and healthy life. Apart from mental health, settling into the post-service lifestyle can be challenging, causing a drastic change in physical wellbeing.
A Good Exercise Routine
To live a healthy life, veterans should try to maintain a regular workout routine as part of their daily life. During their service, most military personnel follow extremely rigorous physical training. Sustaining this workout routine can be extremely difficult post-service.
You can follow some steps to build an effective workout routine:
- Start Slow. Adding a basic workout routine to an already busy life is challenging. Taking one step at a time and then gradually moving sustainably towards more advanced workouts can help create a schedule you can follow. Once the routine begins, it’s all about sticking to the routine.
- Create a Goal for Every Day. This can help you narrow down your focus to one single goal. Try incorporating workouts to target different muscle sets every day. This will keep it interesting for you as well.
- Plan Your Diet. Most exercise coaches advocate that staying healthy is more to do with watching what you eat than clanking and banging weights in the gym. Hence, plan your diet to get the most out of your workouts and see effective results. To further improve your workout results, consider visiting a nutrition counselor.
- Be consistent. Lastly, proper exercise needs consistency and dedication. You do not need to spend hours at a gym; try to adopt a small routine in the initial days, keep them constant, and as a result, you can reap many benefits from it. Hence consistency is the key to getting the best results.
Eating Habits
Adapting a proper, balanced diet is essential to maintaining your well-being. Veterans should ensure they add all the important nutrients to their meals. Protein and leafy vegetables are your friends. Moderate alcohol intake and sugary diets and find creative ways of enjoying your new food plan.
Maintaining one’s body weight or BMI is not the only goal here; a proper diet helps maintain energy levels and good mental health and strengthen immunity. Certain illnesses are very common in veterans, so adopting a balanced and healthy diet in your daily life is the basic key here.
Conclusion
Military veterans not only put their lives on the line for their country but sacrifice their well-being post-service. It’s vital to raise awareness about mental conditions and the friction they face in settling into their post-service lifestyle. Eating well, building a healthy lifestyle, and regular health checkups are key factors that improve their quality of life.
