Your Bad Habits Are Killing You

In our building there is a middle-aged man. I still do not know whether he is older or younger than me—he looks a bit older, but a person's appearance does not always match his actual age; perhaps he only looks old because of illness.

His obesity is unforgettable. When he goes out, he always rides an electric scooter with a bottle or two of Coca-Cola in the basket. I have lived here for over ten years and have personally witnessed this habit of his never changing over the past decade.

He was long ago diagnosed by doctors with diabetes. This summer his legs already showed early signs of diabetic foot. To me this is shocking, but he still cannot give up Coca-Cola; every day there is still Coca-Cola in the basket, and often when parking he picks up a bottle and drinks it all in one go.

Over the past decade, on several occasions when greeting him I reminded him that he can no longer drink this kind of beverage. But after listening he would say nothing, and sometimes looked displeased. Over time, we all came to know that he would not listen to any advice.

Not only does he listen to no advice, he is also especially prone to taking his anger out on others and gets angry often; I can always hear him loudly arguing with someone. He is the kind of person who is always right and everyone else is wrong, so we gradually all knew he was not to be provoked and tried in daily life to avoid angering him.

I do not know whether he has a genetic defect, nor when his habit of loving cola began, but over these ten-plus years I have watched his diabetes worsen step by step. This summer, when he bared his legs, the early symptoms of diabetic foot were unmistakable. If the endocrinologist treating this fellow lived in the same housing estate, he would probably be devastated.

When telling my son not to drink sugary and carbonated beverages, I always use this fellow as a negative example. Once a person forms a bad habit, it is especially hard to break. Dietary, behavioral, and thinking habits have a profound influence on a person's whole life. So for parents, the best legacy to leave their children is nothing more than a set of good habits.

Usually habits are formed in childhood and then hard to change for life—of course, I am talking about bad habits here. Unfortunately, some good habits formed in childhood often change once people reach adulthood. I was born in the late 1970s; in our time, materials were not as abundant as now, meat was rare, and there was meat only at festivals.

The dietary habits I formed in that era allow me even now to remain mainly vegetarian with meat as a supplement. But among my peers, many who had similar childhood dietary habits now eat meat with every meal. Although they have already developed a series of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases due to unhealthy diet and need to reduce meat, they still cannot give up excess meat.

I have a friend who loves alcohol as if it were his life; he has already had a cerebral infarction yet still loves wine. When I urge him to quit drinking, he says he knows I mean well, but he will not quit. He even asked me, after he dies, when I visit his grave, not to forget to bring him cigarettes and liquor. Medically this is called addictive behavior; people become addicted to nicotine and alcohol, and over time it changes the brain structure, making it very difficult to quit.

We all know tobacco and alcohol are addictive, but we overlook that small daily habits can also be addictive. Take the fellow in our building who is addicted to Coca-Cola; he is addicted to cola. Although drinking cola is slow suicide for him, he cannot escape it.

This summer, when I saw early signs of diabetic foot in him, I quietly sighed to my wife that this fellow probably does not have long to live. Doctors cannot cure his disease; medication can at most delay his condition by a few years. Sooner or later he will face amputation, and he will most likely eventually die of diabetes.

He may also have cardiovascular disease; his thinking habits mean he is often in an angry state. His personality is very paranoid; he feels at all times that he is the correct party and others are wrong, with not the slightest habit of self-reflection. People with such paranoid and passionate personalities are prone to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and ultimately die or become disabled from stroke or heart disease.

We often say that character determines destiny. The word “destiny” is too vague and hard to describe precisely. But the length of life can be quantified, and a person's lifespan has much to do with their habits. With other conditions equal, the more bad habits a person has, the shorter their life and the worse their quality of life in middle and old age; the more good habits, the longer the life and the better the quality of life in middle and old age.

A considerable number of people fall into the misery of poverty and illness after middle age, and the chief culprit is actually their own bad habits. Unfortunately, these people often also lack the spirit of self-reflection; they prefer to blame others rather than change themselves, and some narrow-minded ones even retaliate against society.

So forming good habits is crucial for our lifespan and quality of life. Generally, most human habits are formed in childhood.

We Chinese often say that a person of low quality lacks family upbringing; this saying is not wrong. Human habits are first formed in the family environment: self-disciplined parents raise more self-disciplined children, hardworking parents raise harderworking children, and broad-minded parents raise children with broader minds. Parents' words and deeds, overindulgence, and permissiveness often lead to children growing up with ingrained habits hard to change.

So if we want health, let us first examine our habits! Do not indulge yourself too much.