原文: Ways to Stay Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

I bet you’ve all heard the saying, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” While many people debate the amount of sleep we need, it's clear that getting enough sleep is only a portion of the battle and it's also clear that some people simply need less sleep to function.

Regardless, I'd bet that there are people getting 9 hours of sleep each night and then waking up just so they can begin their daily routine of habits that nullify the effects of such great sleep. So, what's the point? All of that sleep goes to waste! On the flipside, there are people only getting 6 hours of sleep that understand how to employ habits that will reinforce the benefits that sleep brings - subsequently they need less.

While we all understand the importance of sleep, let's reinforce it a little so we can maximize our energy, our money, and our brains. With that, put down the potato chips and turn off the Tivo. Let's get a little deeper into how we can really take a step towards health, wealth and wisdom.

Get Regular Exercise

• Healthy: This is a bit of a no-brainer; exercise keeps you fit, helps you to keep your weight at the right level, and boosts your immune system. It’s also great for your mental health – doctors often advise regular exercise as a way of treating mild to moderate depression.
  
  
• Wealthy: Staying fit means you’re less likely to get ill and need to pay for expensive medical care. Also (and I don’t think this is a good thing), “attractive applicants have a better chance of getting jobs, and of receiving higher salaries.” (from Mirror, mirror - A summary of research findings on body image).
  
  
• Wise: Regular exercise can boost your brain power. I always find that I can concentrate better after a gym session, and sciences backs me up here: the New Scientist reports that, “Simply walking sedately for half an hour three times a week can improve abilities such as learning, concentration and abstract reasoning by 15 per cent.” (from 11 steps to a better brain). Apparently, exercise promotes the growth of new brain cells.
  

Eat Good Food

• Healthy: Eating well keeps your body in great condition. Getting all the nutrients that you need ensures that all your bodily processes are running well. That means simple things like getting your five-a-day, and making sure you have a good balance of foods from different food groups (try MyPyramid to see what you should be eating each day). Eating healthily also means keeping your weight at the right level.
  
  
• Wealthy: Good, fresh, wholesome food works out a lot cheaper than fast food and takeouts. Check out The Simple Dollar’s Is the Value Menu Really a Value?? to see how a McDonald’s double cheeseburger measures up to a homemade version. Try skipping your usual snacks and meals out for a week (brown-bag lunch and take fruit with you to work or school instead) – and count how much you save.
  
  
• Wise: Studies consistently show that people who eat good, healthy food perform better on tests than those who either haven’t eaten at all, or who’ve feasted on junk. “According to research published in 2003, kids breakfasting on fizzy drinks and sugary snacks performed at the level of an average 70-year-old in tests of memory and attention.” (from 11 steps to a better brain.)

Drink Sensibly

• Healthy: If you regularly get drunk, you’re doing a lot of damage to your body. Alcohol is a poison which your body works hard to get rid of: this puts a strain on your liver and depletes your body’s vitamin supplies. Long term risks include liver failure; short term ones could involve injuries incurred while drunk. And alcoholic drinks also contain calories (as well as making that late-night kebab tempting), which is why some men develop a “beer belly”. On the plus side, most research indicates that a glass of red wine each day is beneficial to health.
  
  
• Wealthy: Alcohol is expensive. If you’re blowing half your paycheck on going out, you’re unlikely to be doing so well financially as colleagues who’re putting that money into a high-interest savings account. Why not drink a bit less every time you go out and put the money into savings instead?
  
  
• Wise: Drinking too much alcohol kills brain cells. You’ve probably noticed that if you have a drink or two, it’s harder to concentrate or do anything complicated. This effect continues even when you think you’re not drunk any more:
  

  “Scientists examined the effect of alcohol on complex, or executive, brain functions such as abstract reasoning, planning and the ability to monitor our own behavior in response to external feedback. They found that performance in these areas was affected even after the concentration of alcohol in the blood had dipped to the point that people were no longer aware of its effect.” - Alcohol effect lingers on brain

Which of these tips could you take on board to become healthy, wealthy and wise? Do you have any great advice of your own about a single lifestyle change that could boost all three of these areas?

Ali

译文: 让你健康、富有和智慧的方法

      我敢肯定大家都听过这句话：“早睡早起，使人健康、富有、并充满智慧。”然而许多人讨论的是我们需要的睡眠时间量，很明显获得充足的睡眠只是其中的一部分因素，而且一部分人的确只需要较少的睡眠也能应对日常工作。

    不管怎样，我敢说有那么些人，每晚睡饱9个小时，早晨起床后只是习惯性地开始他们的日常工作，完全浪费了9个小时这么充足的睡眠时间的效用。那么，关键在哪里？所有这样的睡眠全都是浪费！相反，有部分人每天只有6个小时的睡眠时间，却知道如何利用这种习惯来增加睡眠带来的益处——慢慢地他们需要的睡眠就相对少了。

    我们都清楚睡眠的重要性，让我们多加强点，使我们的精力、财力和智慧最大化。为此，放下薯片，关掉电视，让我们更深入地了解如何能够更进一步地使自己健康、富有和充满智慧。

  坚持锻炼

•   健康：这很容易，运动使人健康，帮助维持体重和增强免疫力。同时运动也有益于心理健康——医生通常会建议人们经常锻炼身体，作为治疗轻度到中度抑郁症的方法。
  
• 富有：保持健康意味着你不容易生病，为此也就不需要支付昂贵的医疗费用。同时（当然我不认为这是件好事），“引人注意的应聘者被录用的几率更大，获得的薪水更高。”（选自魔镜，魔镜——肢体形象研究发现概论）。
  .
• 智慧：经常锻炼身体能够提升人的智力。我经常发现健身过后更容易集中注意力，这是又科学依据的：《新科学》杂志报道：“静静地健步，每周仅三次，每次仅30分钟，各种能力诸如学习能力、注意力和抽象推理能力就能提高15%。”（选自11步打造更优秀的大脑）显然，运动能够促进脑细胞的新增。
   

合理饮食

• 健康：合理饮食可以保持身体机能的最佳状态。获取人体所需的各种营养物质，确保身体各个器官正常运作。这意味着一些简单的事比如一天食用5分量的水果蔬菜，并确保膳食均衡（点击我的饮食金字塔看每天应该吃些什么）。健康饮食也意味着维持体重。
  
• 富有：上等、新鲜、有益健康的食物要比速食和外卖便宜得多。看看《简单美元》上名为“贵的东西真的就一定好么？”的文章，看看一个麦当劳的双层芝士汉堡式如何达到自制食品的标准。试着一个礼拜不吃日常的点心和正餐（而是上班或上学时自带便当和水果）——然后数数看为此你节省下多少钱。
  
• 智慧：研究一如既往地表明了那些食用上等、健康食物的人比那些什么都不吃或是热衷于享受垃圾食品的人在考试中表现得更为出色。“2003年发表的研究表明早餐食用碳酸饮料和甜食的孩子在针对记忆力和注意力的测试中的表现与70岁左右的老人处于同种水平。”（选自11步打造更优秀的大脑。）

  适度饮酒

    健康：经常醉酒对身体的危害很大。酒精是人体需要花大力气才能分解的物质：分解过程增增加肝脏的负担，消耗体内的维生素。长此以往存在的危险包括肝功能衰竭；短期的话包括因为醉酒可能造成的创伤。含酒精的饮料还有卡路里（同时也让午夜的烤肉串更具诱惑力），这就是为什么有些人有“啤酒肚”。不过，另一方面，多数研究表明一天一杯红酒有益于健康。

   富有：酒是高消费品。如果你将半数的钱都花在外出喝酒上面，就不可能在经济上保持地跟那些将自己的钱存入能够获取高利息储蓄帐户的同事一样好。为什么不每次出门的时候少喝一点酒，把钱存起来呢？

   智慧：喝酒太多会杀死脑细胞。你也可能已经意识到如果喝了那么一两杯酒后就很难集中精力或者做较复杂的事。酒精的这种影响甚至当你认为自己已经醒酒了也会还在持续：

• “科学家们测试了酒精对诸如抽象推理、计划以及控制人应对外部客观反应的能力等复杂的或者具有管理作用的脑部机能。他们发现即使血液中的酒精浓度已经降低到人已经感觉不到酒精的作用，酒精对上述脑部机能的影响仍然存在。”——酒精作用存留于大脑

    你认同以上哪几点使人变得健康、富有和充满智慧呢？关于改变一种生活方式从而可以推进这三个方面你有没有什么好的建议呢？

Ali