Proverbs and Sayings on Health [With Meaning and Example]
Proverbs and sayings are popular nuggets of wisdom, often in circulation for centuries and even millenniums. This post contains proverbs and sayings on health, divided under four categories (diet, exercise, sleep and relaxation, and others).
If you’re looking for more proverbs and sayings, you can find plenty of them in the resource below. It contains proverbs on topics such as life, family, friends, love, health, happiness, money, hard work, time, time management, teamwork, leadership, business, education & learning, and more.
Resource on proverbs and sayings
1. Diet
You are what you eat.
If you eat healthy, you stay healthy. If you eat junk, you may develop health problems in the medium to long term.
Example: My grandfather has stayed away from anything junk or processed for as long as I can remember. Not surprisingly, he is fit and healthy even at 82. You are what you eat.
Gluttony kills more than the sword.
More people die of health issues arising out of overeating than in violence.
Example: You should be concerned about your persistent obesity because gluttony kills more than the sword.
More die of food than famine.
More people die because of indulgence in food and eating unhealthy than because of famine.
Example: You shouldn’t eat unhealthy snacks every evening. Remember, more die of food than famine.
The best doctors are Dr Diet, Dr Quiet, and Dr Merryman.
To lead a healthy life, we need good diet (to beat poor eating habits), rest (to beat hectic work), and some enjoyment (to beat stress).
Example: Your hectic life as a software engineer has taken a toll on you. You need to improve your lifestyle, and I need not tell you that the best doctors are Dr Diet, Dr Quiet, and Dr Merryman.
Eat to live, not live to eat.
Eat to keep healthy and not for pleasure or satiation.
Example: Unless you stop living to eat and start eating to live, you won’t get rid of obesity.
Enough is as good as a feast.
What’s enough (food and drink) for you is already excess. You don’t need more.
Example: I eat in moderation to stay in shape. Enough is as good as a feast.
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A bird never flew on one wing.
You say this proverb at a bar to justify another drink. Like a bird can’t fly on one wing, you can’t get done with just the drinks gulped down so far. If you want to stay healthy, avoid saying this proverb too often at bars.
Example: Fill in more! A bird can’t fly on one wing.
2. Exercise
After lunch, rest; after dinner, walk a mile.
An Arabic proverb. After lunch, take rest to aid digestion since lunch is usually a heavy meal. After dinner, take a walk since it’s usually a lighter meal.
Example: My grandfather enjoys good health even at the age of 82, and he partly credits it to the dictum: After lunch, rest; after dinner, walk a mile.
3. Relaxation and controlling worries
A clear conscience is a good pillow.
A man with clear conscience won’t be haunted by misdeeds and hence will sleep soundly.
Example: Many well-off and powerful people lead a stressed life because of some of their actions they’ve to take willy-nilly. Why not have a clear conscience which would act as a good pillow.
Laughter is the best medicine.
Laughter functions no less than a medicine: Laughter strengthens immune system, lifts mood, and protects from stress.
Example: Laughter clubs exist for a reason: People realize that laughter is the best medicine.
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.
Laughter and adequate sleep are the best cures as well as preventions as they boost immunity and wellbeing.
Example: Tom: I’ve sore throat and have been feeling tired since yesterday evening.Jerry: I guess you should stay away from your hectic work life for few days, take rest, and enjoy. A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.
Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.
A Chinese proverb. We build tension and stress when we try to conform ourselves to how others want us to be. But if we don’t try to fit into moulds and simply go by who we are, we’ll be relaxed. Unfortunately, most of us choose the former.
Example: You don’t need to attend such parties every week just to be noticed, especially when you don’t like them. Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.
It’s not work that kills, but worry.
It’s not hard work that’s bad for health, but it’s worrying and stress.
Example: My mother works moderate hours, yet she has had health problems because of stress. It’s worry, and not work, that kills.
Fretting cares make grey hairs.
Worrying ages you prematurely.
Example: Don’t be constantly preoccupied with the thought of matters related to workplace. because fretting cares make grey hairs.
The tongue always returns to the sore tooth.
Our thoughts are constantly drawn towards the problem(s) we’re facing at that time.
Example: Few years back, I was constantly worried about my mother’s health. The tongue always returns to the sore tooth, but it only made things worse.
What will Mrs. Grundy say?
Our actions are influenced by what others may think or say about those actions.
Example: To be in happy state of mind, live your own life and not think what Mrs. Grundy will say.
We’re all slaves of opinion.
Similar to the last proverb
4. Others
Health is not valued till sickness comes.
We go through our lives robotically, not eating healthy and not exercising regularly, which inevitably leads to one or the other health problem. That’s when we realize the importance of good health.
Example: My father improved his diet and started morning walks after he suffered a mild heart attack. Health is not valued till sickness comes.
He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.
An Arabic proverb. Someone who has good health can hope to pursue his goals and make a difference in future. And it’s hope that keeps us going. (How do people survive the most wretched times? Hope for better times.) But without good health, there is little hope for future, which takes away the thing that keeps us going.
Example: As long as I stay healthy, I don’t bother about even major setbacks like losing money. After all, he who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.
Health is wealth.
Health is the most precious wealth we can have. With health on our side, we can make money in future, but without health, all wealth in the world is waste.
Example: The rich man, suffering from cancer, would like to get well at any cost. Health is wealth, after all.
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
A person who sleeps early and gets up early will be healthy, wealthy, and wise. The possible reason behind is that early risers typically spend quieter early-morning hours in exercise and other productive work.
Example: My grandfather’s successful life typifies early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
borrowed from https://lemongrad.com/proverbs-and-sayings-on-health/
