The Minimum Foundation of Health: Alive! Multivitamins
Health is a prerequisite for happiness. No matter how much you achieve, it all fades away if your health collapses. As the easiest way to build a foundation of health in our busy lives, I recommend a single daily multivitamin. This is a wise form of self-care that provides maximum stability with minimal effort.
Before You Lose Everything
What good is the greatest wealth and fame if you lose your health? Even the pessimistic philosopher Schopenhauer, who claimed that “everything is meaningless,” was firm about the value of health. He said, “Health is not everything, but without it, everything else is nothing.” He emphasized that all the values we pursue—happiness, success, relationships—are built on the foundation of health.
However, we neglect our health all too easily. We lose sleep, skip meals, and ignore stress, fixated on the goals right in front of us. We treat our bodies like an infinite resource, but our physical and mental energy has clear limits. When we exceed those limits, we finally realize that we can lose everything.
The Cracks Created by Invisible Deficiencies
The modern diet is often described as poverty in the midst of plenty. While we are accustomed to processed and delivered foods, overflowing with calories, we are often deficient in the essential vitamins and minerals our bodies need. This nutritional imbalance can lead not only to a decline in physical performance but also to emotional problems like lethargy and mild depression.
In fact, numerous studies have demonstrated the deep connection between certain nutrients and mental health. For example, B vitamins (especially B6, B9, and B12) and vitamin D play a crucial role in the synthesis of serotonin and dopamine, often called the “happiness hormones.” When these nutrients are lacking, it’s as if our brains are not ready to feel happiness. A small deficiency in the body can create a large crack in the mind.
The Easiest Health Care: The Habit of One Pill a Day
So I decided to build a “minimum line of defense.” If I don’t have the time to worry about a perfect diet every day, I thought I should at least fill in the most important and basic things. The easiest and most effective method I chose was to take one multivitamin a day.
Among the many products out there, the one I’ve consistently taken and settled on is Alive! Once Daily Men’s Multi-Vitamin. The biggest appeal was that I could easily get 20 different vitamins and minerals in one pill. This small habit, swallowed with a glass of water on a busy morning, gives me the psychological reassurance that “I’ve made a minimal effort for my health today.”
Of course, a single vitamin is not a panacea. But it’s like a reliable insurance policy that provides the minimum nutrients my body needs amidst an irregular lifestyle and an unbalanced diet.
Small Habits Build a Solid Today
A single vitamin a day won’t dramatically change your life. But it can be one small brick that reinforces the foundation of “health” that Schopenhauer spoke of. Because the wisest way is to protect it before it collapses.
How about adding the easiest and most reliable sense of security to your daily life? I hope that on the minimum foundation of health, your wealth, fame, and happiness will shine even brighter.