Oncology expert Wu Zhibing: Eat only two meals a day, exercise 2-3 times a week and wear a watch to detect deep sleep time.
Specialist’s health tips
City Express News Chief Physician Wu Zhibing, director of the Oncology Department and Radiotherapy Department of Zhejiang Hospital, mentioned that relevant scientific research shows that the occurrence of tumors is directly related to the aging of the human body. As the human body ages, the abnormal cells produced cannot be cleared in time. If things go on like this, coupled with the decline of immunity, these cells may escape from immunity, continue to proliferate and turn into cancer cells. Director Wu is 47 years old this year. Five of his college classmates also suffer from tumors.
People inevitably age. What we can do to delay aging is what everyone is most concerned about. I asked Director Wu to talk about how he fights aging.
Director Wu said that a study in the journal “Nature” showed that overeating is not beneficial to the human body. “After the age of 40, eating seven to eight percent of each meal is enough. Eating too much is not good for your health.” Director Wu said that he usually only eats two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. Because I am busy with medical appointments at noon, I usually eat fruits and vegetables with lower sugar content such as cucumbers and tomatoes. For snacks, I will eat dark chocolate, the kind without sugar, because it contains cocoa, which is good for the cardiovascular system. I usually don’t eat high-fat, high-sugar foods, or fruits that are too high in sugar.
In addition to diet, exercise is also important. Director Wu used to like playing table tennis and badminton, but now because he is afraid of sprains and other sports injuries, he chooses walking as his method of exercise. Walk 2-3 times a week, taking at least 20,000 steps each time. Director Wu specifically mentioned that although exercise is good, it must be done in moderation.
Excessive exercise not only fails to maintain health, but will cause the body’s cells to operate at high speed and accumulate metabolic waste, which is counterproductive. Director Wu said that there are some marathon enthusiasts around him who basically run a marathon every few days. Some have persisted for 10 years, but their energy is excessively consumed and they look a lot “older”.
How to control the speed of exercise? Director Wu said that 2-3 times a week, each time the heartbeat is less than 150 beats/minute, the exercise time is less than 30 minutes, and it is enough to achieve a slight sweating state.
In addition to diet and exercise, there is another very important thing: sleep. Maintaining deep sleep is very important. Director Wu said that he wears a watch to monitor his sleep time when sleeping to ensure deep sleep time every day. When the quality of sleep is poor, it is recommended to help regulate the quality of sleep by drinking hot milk, acupuncture, massage, cupping, etc., supplemented by soft sleep music.
A special reminder is that long-term use of melatonin to aid sleep is not recommended. It’s not a big problem to use melatonin for a few short periods of time. If you take melatonin for a long time to help you sleep, it will cause the brain’s own secretion of melatonin to decrease. If things go on like this, it may lead to the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease.
Studies have shown that the incidence rates of respiratory and digestive system malignant tumors in Western countries are lower than those in my country. Director Wu’s team is conducting research to find out the reasons behind it. Director Wu said that it has been found that this may be related to the lack of sunlight among Chinese residents, but there is no clear evidence yet. Recently, Chinese people have gradually become more aware of sun protection, and they usually cover themselves up when going out. Westerners also go out of their way to “sunbathe”, and the time and degree of sunshine do vary.