Here are a few healthy lifestyle changes that could have the most significant impact on your health...
health
Good health is incredibly complex, and there are lots of tiny tweaks you can make to your daily habits in order to help you live longer, and with more energy. When it comes to your health, your lifestyle choices play an important role. Lifestyle changes are behaviour modifications or habit changes that encourage positive changes in your life.
It’s never too late to start integrating healthier habits into your daily routine. Experience a fresh start by taking control of how you feel today and committing to small improvements. These are the building blocks that put you on track to feel stronger, prevent illness, and improve your quality of life for years to come. Here are a few healthy lifestyle changes that could have the most significant impact on your health...
Make sleep a priority: A good night of sleep can improve productivity, boost your mood, and stabilize your blood sugar to control hunger and cravings. You need seven to nine hours every night. The drawbacks to skimping on sleep are no joke. Consider this: if you’re skipping just an hour and getting six each night, your risk of obesity goes up 23 per cent. If you have trouble sleeping, use calming essential oils, eat sleep-promoting foods or making an effort to avoid screen time an hour before bed. Instead, unwind before bedtime with a bath or some light reading.
Your body’s circadian rhythm functions best when you make a habit of sleeping and waking at consistent times, which eventually stabilises energy and mood.
Give up sedentary lifestyle: Sitting in a chair for too long can be the source of many illnesses. Simply standing up for a few minutes can reduce the risks. Adding simple stretching while you stand up can further improve blood circulation and metabolism. Add more movement into your life by breaking-up sedentary activities with physical activity. For instance take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator; swap-up your coffee break for a power walk; after all, walking is the best exercise.
Switch to healthy food: By ditching the processed convenience foods and nourishing yourself with a balanced diet of fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, whole grains, plant-based proteins, and healthy polyunsaturated fats, you can improve your health and overall quality of life.
Choose healthier fats: Not all fats are created equal. You should avoid ‘unhealthy’ fats and choose ‘healthy’ fats. Healthy fats can help lower bad cholesterol and help lose excessive weight. You can find the healthy fats in avocados, coconut oil, butter, extra virgin oil, and omega-3s.
Extract sugar from your life: Sugar is bad for your health. Processed sugar can lead to weight gain, which could be the source of certain illness. Sugar has no essential nutrients and is bad for your teeth. Fructose in sugar can lead to liver damage and can cause insulin resistance, which can cause type-2 diabetes. So really take a close look at your diet and consider the amount of sugar you consume on a daily and/or weekly basis.
Increase your water intake: Hydrating yourself is important to many physical and biological activities and benefits. Some benefits of staying hydrated include weight loss, skin elasticity, mood balance, temperature control, and much more!
Get more sunlight: Your body craves fresh air and sunlight, not just as a break from being inside but also for the production of vitamin D, an essential nutrient that supports bone health, blood cell production, and a healthy immune system. A day spent enjoying the sunlight can also boost your mood!
Quit Smoking: If you are committed towards a healthier lifestyle then quitting smoking is mandatory. Smoking is a habit that causes many fatal diseases. Damages include respiratory disease, lung cancer; reduce blood flows, and much more. Avoiding or not starting to smoke in the beginning can help prevent unwanted outcomes. So no more excuses, it’s time to quit!
Get regular health checkups: You should always be aware of the conditions of your body so that you can increase the chance of preventing illness. Regular annual checkups can help this. You can do regular health checks and add other tests - depending on your health conditions.
Stay away from your phone: Too much time on the phone can reduce your vision, leading to bad posture and can limit your social activities outside of the phone. People call reducing spending time on the phone a ‘phone diet’, which recommends staying away as much as possible because it allows many benefits to come into your life.
Limit social media time: How many times a week do you find yourself glued to social media? If this struggle sounds familiar, it may be time to try a social media detox. A detox can break the habit of checking your Facebook or Instagram during downtime, creating space in your day to stay productive and prevent procrastination. It can also reduce headaches and eye and neck tension that often come from staring at a screen too long.
Be socially active: Healthy relationships are what we call ‘primary food’, the things that nourish and satisfy you off your plate. Think about the people in your life, and commit to spending more time cultivating relationships that make you feel good, uplifted, and inspired. Catch up with a friend over the phone or plan a weekend hiking with family or friends. By nourishing your support system, you’ll create a lasting impact on your health, as you’ll have someone to turn to during all phases of life, good or bad.
Socialising and meeting new people can increase your daily expectation and give you the chance to meet those who will connect with you, ultimately leading to life-satisfaction. Increased life satisfaction can help you have a healthier life.
Do what you enjoy: Activities you enjoy would make your every day enjoyable, will help you commit more to the activity, and you will feel more confident. You can try out running, drawing, yoga, biking, hiking, playing an instrument, listening to music, reading a book, or anything else you enjoy!
