HEALTH

In December, Blocks Group won first prize in the prestigious national competition Building of the Year 2022 in the category Social Infrastructure -

On 15 December was held the official opening of one of the largest and most modern rehabilitation and long-term care hospitals in Europe, owned by Block

Having a pet is one of the most rewarding things in the world. The unburdened joy of your dog when you return home from work and take it for a walk. The quiet purr of the cat huddled in your lap after a stressful day. The calming movement of the fish in the aquarium. The philosophical look of the iguana and the turtle suggesting that worrying about insignificant things is pointless. The charming song of canaries.

"Preventive activities are the modern European way to rethink and refine the processes of protection and improvement of the nation's health," says Dr Tihomir Savchev, Vita Hospital Manager. "During the Covid-19 pandemic we all saw how important it is for society to realise the social, economic and health effects of preventive action targeted to timely identification and treatment of health problems.

Just like happy families from the famous Tolstoy definition, well managed medical facilities are alike. In them, organisation of each process is optimised to perfection. The medical staff is calm and enjoys management's support and opportunities to grow professionally. The ambiance is pleasant. The healthcare and its results are the best possible, irregardless of whether a state, a municipality or a privately-owned medical facility is concerned.

In the endless weeks when we were forced to stay at our homes, pets proved to be of invaluable help. Even in the darkest moments, the long walks with our dogs and our cats' affection provided us with the much-needed feel of stability, love and even joy. For people who live alone pets became an invaluable company that helped them to deal with lockdown's psychological stress.

If we decide to list the things that we automatically take for a valid truth the notion "nobody likes going to the dentist" will be probably among the first ten. Indeed, stressed by memories of painful experiences, drilling noise and unpleasant smells, millions of people all over the world each year postpone the prophylactic visit to the dentist – until it is too late.

The strive of modern people to eat healthily and to use nature-friendly cosmetics is not just another fashion and a whim. The planet is suffocating under the tonnes of plastics that humanity generates by the minute, and the effects on the organism of artificial colourings, additives and preservatives in mass food and cosmetics are yet to be studied.

Thousands of years ago, people crossed Africa's savannahs and deserts, hunted in the frozen tundras and mountains of Ice Age Europe and Asia, discovered a route to North and South America and remote corners of the world such as Australia and New Zealand. Our musculoskeletal apparatus is adapted for such an active lifestyle, a perfect machine for survival.

If there is a world trend that often goes under the radar of attention, this is the attitude towards pets. Modern people take an increasing number of dogs, cats, birds and exotic animals at home, and spend more time and attention in taking care of them. According to US data, in the past 30 years pet ownership increased from 56% to 68%. The majority of new owners are the millennials and the Generation Zs. The share of people who prefer to adopt their pet is also on the rise.

We have five senses, but eyesight is the one of them that suffers the most from modern lifestyle. Since screens became an integral part of our lives, we strain our eyes from the second we awake to the moment we fall asleep. We check the social networks and we read news, we watch TV series and we have video calls with our relatives abroad, we book hotels and buy tickets on our phones. We take photos, we share, we comment, we tag, we search in Google. We work all day long on a computer and when we travel, we play games on our phones or read e-books on the plane.

Teeth are among the few parts of the human body that are not only extremely important for the proper functioning of the organism, but that also influence the self-confidence and the person's overall charisma.

On the one hand, without healthy teeth we cannot eat properly. Thanks to them we "mill" the food so that it can be absorbed by the body. In some people problems with missing teeth begin with ageing, but plenty of others loose a tooth or more while they are still at active age.

Today there is hardly a person who would argue that good health is possible without healthy food. Food provides organism with the proteins, carbs, fats, vitamins and microelements needed for its proper function.

We realise what a worth movement is only when something happens that seriously restricts our usual routine. Stiffening, traumas, diseases: there is hardly a person who hasn't faced or who won't face in the future some of these problems. In some cases the solution can be only surgical.

The very idea of a pet is something that makes us, humans, different from other animal species. We are capable of giving our heart, spending our money and devoting our attention to an animal that at a first glance doesn't give us anything in return. Indeed, we do no longer need cats to keep the mice population at home under control, and most of the shepherd dogs live a quiet urban life instead of running after flocks on meadows.

Healthy mind in healthy body: since the dawn of humanity health has inevitably been connected with happy life. It is something that people constantly aim to achieve, trying to preserve it will all means possible. However, never before humanity has had the resources and the abilities to take care of its health that we have at our disposal today.

Long time ago, in the prehistoric era when the only screens in our lives were TV ones, the adult worried that long hours of watching TV would damage our eyesight. Oh, times of bliss! Today we have dozens more excuses to keep our eyes glued to a screen of some sort for hours on end: smartphones and desktops, large TV sets and electronic readers, smart watches and tablets. According to a survey conducted in the USA in 2017, the average adult spends 9 days and 22 minutes per day in front of some type of screen.

Smile is the quickest manifestation of our good mood. This is probably why children smile at an average of 400 times per day, the happy adults – about 40-50 times per day, and the average person – around 20 times per day. Regardless of the mood, smile is good for our health. Even when we are in a bad mood and we force ourselves to smile, it yet brightens us.

Regardless of their mood, however, many people are not able to smile. The reason? Bad teeth.

One doesn't value what boon is to move freely and without pain until the moment something unexpected happens: trauma during an accident or sport, a disease  triggered, old age, or the accumulation of unfavourable factors like bad posture, leading to physiological changes and acute pain. No one is protected – from children to people who do actively exercise.

"Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened," Anatole France has said and anyone who even for a short period of time has had a pet will confirm. Pets charge us with positive energy, relieve us from stress, make us laugh and give us the most important thing: unconditional love.

Pets, however, need proper care to be healthy and happy. They are not toys, they are a responsibility asking for constant care.