Last week, a friend and I were trading WhatsApp voice notes, as we often do. Usually, we laugh over films, share office gossip, or make weekend plans. But this time, our conversation had shifted. Instead of fun chatter, we spoke about cholesterol levels, blood-pressure readings, joint aches, creeping weight gain — the quiet but relentless markers of middle age that seem to sneak up when no one is watching.
Somewhere along the way, the focus of my conversations has drifted from love and literature to the mechanics of a body that creaks, rattles, and demands fixing. In my parents’ generation, health was not a conscious pursuit. It was simply a way of life. They walked to the market, hauled home heavy grocery bags, cooked meals from scratch, and worked with their hands. Diets were simple, largely home-cooked, and portioned without thought.
Fitness did not need promotion; it was embedded in everyday living. Regular check-ups were rare, medications were for serious illness, and no one obsessed over step counts or protein powders. Many from that era lived long, only succumbing to illness in their final years. today, it feels as if health is everywhere — yet, paradoxically, nowhere. Wellness has become a booming industry, with apps, supplements, influencers, and endless feeds of toned bodies. Gyms thrive, fitness fads rise and fall, and the pressure to stay in shape hums constantly in the background. For those of us now confronting the consequences of a sedentary, stressful lifestyle, the alarm bells are loud and urgent.
For too long, we believed we could coast along, denying the early warnings. By the time the aches and spikes appeared, the damage was already underway. Was it ignorance, or was it arrogance that led us to ignore the basics? In contrast, it is striking to see young people today so invested in fitness — signing up for gyms, counting macros, obsessing over supplements. Yet I can’t help but wonder: is the drive really about health, or is it about looking good in photos? There’s a crucial difference between exercising for aesthetics and nurturing health as an enduring investment. A perfect frame in your twenties means little if the body begins to falter in your fifties. The real reward lies in building a foundation that resists decline, ensuring independence and vitality in later years. True health is less about dramatic gestures and more about small, steady choices compounded over time.
A brisk walk, a generous serving of fresh vegetables, stretching before bed, pausing to breathe mindfully —these simple habits stack up silently, creating a resilient body and mind. Mental well-being, sleep, and stress management are as critical as movement and diet. They provide the reserves we will need when the decades add up. The body you care for in your twenties and thirties is the very body that will carry you into your sixties and seventies. It determines whether you remain independent, energetic, and dignified, or reliant on pills and crutches.
Health is not about fitting into a dress size or flaunting abs. It is the inheritance we create for ourselves, the assurance of living fully and ageing gracefully. Beauty fades, youth slips away. But a body well tended is a companion that will not betray you. And this truth, I am only now beginning to absorb.
The writer is a Dubai-based columnist, independent journalist, author, and writing coach