Choosing your personal lifestyle became critically important starting only a few decades ago, after it was realized that your well-being, and especially your health, depends on your lifestyle. This was the most important turning point for the wellness movement. Previously, maintaining physical health was centered on preventing risks like smoking and high cholesterol diet, and medical training in wellness was practically nil.

Most of the worst risks are still connected with bad choices. You have the freedom to choose a lifestyle that includes tobacco and alcohol, no exercise, and a diet heavy in processed foods, hydrogenated fat, and sugar. But there’s enough information available to give pause. As a result, better choices are being made by most people, and an improved lifestyle is the result.

Gallstones can be a severe detriment to your lifestyle. They can cause pain and even more serious health issues if left unchecked. As a result, you should avoid them whenever possible, whether by preventive methods or by dealing with them as they come. These five tips detail easy ways to keep gallstones from becoming an issue in your life — and you may improve other aspects of your health at the same time.

Be Your Best This New Year: Tips for an Ayurvedic Lifestyle

Feeling irresolute about wanting to make those New Year's Resolutions? Consider this: During your lifetime, advances in medical sciences will add about two years to your life, but changes in your personal behavior — read lifestyle — can add 15+ years. Isn't it about time to make some changes?

Ayurvedic healing, as you know, places the highest value on good lifestyle. Ayurveda describes four types of life: hita-ayu, ahita-ayu, sukha-ayu and dukha-ayu. Hita-ayu is life that is led for doing good to yourself and others. Ahita-ayu refer to actions which are not for the good of yourself or another person. Sukha-ayu refers to those healthful and blissful actions that you do for the good of your physiology, while dukha-ayu is leading a life that harms the physiology. Choose to lead the hita-ayu and sukha-ayu life, and your days will be filled with bounty in every way.

The Council of Maharishi Ayurveda Physicians shows you how to lead the hita-sukha lifestyle this year.