Staying healthy should be a personal accountability. You cannot blame the food for poor digestion because it was you who chose to eat it. You cannot blame stress because you have the option to live a balanced life. So take charge and get to know the ways on how to balance your activities without compromising health. Below are tips on how to lead a healthy lifestyle:
1.Take your food as if they are your medicines
Amatellah says, “Eat your food as your medicines. Otherwise, you have medicines as your food.” In other words, be cautious of the food that you put into your mouth. It can be tempting to choose processed foods because of convenience. However, salt, sugar, trans- and saturated fats, nitrate, and other chemicals found on processed foods harm the body. Instead, choose to load up on different kinds of fruits and vegetables, whole grain foods, and organic meat. They are filled with essential vitamins and minerals.
Like medicines, eat the right kind and the right amount of food. Eat small portions of food throughout the day, including your main meals. This helps to control your weight.
2. Fuel up with water
Hydration should replace medication. There are several known benefits of drinking water, such as increasing energy level, promoting weight loss, detoxifying your body, improving your complexion, boosting your immune system, preventing headaches and cramps, and brightening your mood. The best thing about water is that you don’t have to pay for it.
3. Move around
No matter how hectic your schedule is, you can squeeze in 5 to 15 minutes of exercise. You can perform stretching or run on a treadmill. An adult is advised to perform 150 minutes of aerobic exercise in a week or 75 minutes if it’s intense.
Exercise helps in improving your body’s circulation, thereby bringing oxygen to your brain and other organs. If you’re stressed out at work, then this helps you relieve the muscle tension and think better on your project. Remember that just like food, exercising should not be a one-time, big-time affair. Develop a plan and spread different kinds of exercises all throughout the week.
4. Feed your soul as you feed your body
Mental health is extremely important. Your diet, exercise regimen, and your work performance all start in the mind. Hence, you have to feed your mind positive thoughts every day in order to help fight depression, anxiety, stress, and other mental health problems. Do you know the saying, “What your mind receives, your body conceives”? This implies that if you let negative opinions, criticisms, and self-destructive thoughts overwhelm you, eventually you end up becoming your thoughts, feeling bad about yourself, and affecting the quality of your work and social life.
Meditation is the perfect cure for your bad thoughts. Read the article on how to meditate to reverse bad thoughts and live a healthy life. You will realize that you can take control of your actions, achieve your life goals, and other people’s treatment towards you just by controlling your thoughts.
5. Deactivate and stay offline
The world has gotten so deeply wired that deactivation from social media or from the Internet, in general, has become a necessity. Digital detoxification, that is. Prolonged exposure to gadgets not only steals your time for socialization, but also increases irritability, disrupts sleep pattern, promotes obesity, affects your eyesight and hearing, increases back pain and muscle tension, and adds to stress. While it’s hard to unplug nowadays because computers are now key work tools, you have to lessen the use of gadgets for leisure purposes. Get out and get a life. Converse with friends or spend the weekend climbing mountains and swimming in the pool. In this way, you get to enjoy, exercise and unwind. Remember that your psychological health also affects your physical health (and vice versa).
6. Sleep well
Sleep is critical to living a healthy lifestyle. It is when you are sleeping that your body naturally recharges itself and repairs cell damage. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation can lead to poor concentration, memory loss, mood swings, poor immunity, high blood pressure, affected balance and coordination, and weight gain. It also increases the risk of encountering accidents and developing serious conditions like diabetes and heart disease. So, you know better than to sacrifice sleep for a week.
While 7-8 hours a day seems to be the norm, scientists have proven that the range varies from person to person. There are those who can have quality sleep with only 6 hours or less. Remember that quality of sleep is more important than quantity.
Other help books and articles have a long and complicated list of dos and don’ts on how to live a healthy lifestyle. But essentially, having a good health boils down to eating right, sleeping right, drinking water, exercising, relaxing, nourishing your soul, and developing a positive mindset. It’s as simple as that.
