Your body is constantly trying to maintain balance. A healthy lifestyle is one that helps your body in this quest for balance.
1. Eat Well
Eating is one of our basic needs and the foundation for a healthy lifestyle. Take a look at your regular diet and read about nutrition. Is what you’re eating helping you achieve a healthy lifestyle? If not, make adjustments to your diet. Don’t underestimate the power of proper hydration, aim for 60 ounces of water a day.
2. Exercise
Experts say that 30 minutes of exercise a day is the standard for maintaining physical health. Exercise also reduces stress and promotes quality sleep.
3. Get Quality Sleep Regularly
Adults should sleep seven to eight hours each night, uninterrupted. Track your sleep habits for a week to help you identify any habits. If you are not getting enough sleep, ask your doctor about possible causes.
4. Enjoy Hobbies
Having fun is part of a healthy lifestyle. Engaging in learning and participating in activities promotes a healthier mind, and happier life.
5. Practice Your Religion/Spirituality
Whichever your choice of religion is, a spiritual practice contributes to a healthy lifestyle in a number of ways. In addition to encouraging social connections, those that include meditation or prayer reduce stress.
6. Manage Stress
Stress damages your health, leading to unhealthy eating/sleeping habits, and causing depression. Develop tools for dealing with stress, trying techniques such as deep breathing, relaxation, and massage.
Know How Healthy You Are
To say regular physicals are important is an understatement. In order to live a healthy lifestyle, you must first know how your health is now. This extends beyond lab work, weight, and other statisttics. It also includes how stressed you are, your happiness, amount of exercise, quality of sleep, and the health of your relationships. These may be more difficult to measure, but equally as important. There are many resources online that include quizzes to assist your self health assessment.
Make Small Changes
Any lifestyle change should be gradually introduced. Starting a strict regime, especially when it comes to eating habits, may be a set up for failure. Make a long list of goals for health improvement, then choose only two or three to work on at a time. Checking them off as you go will boost your confidence as you pursue a healthy lifestyle.
Partner Up
We are more likely to maintain long term changes if we have a partner. This can be your spouse, parent, child, co-worker, or friend. The important part is that you are honest about what you are changing, why you are doing it, and what steps/mistakes you make along the way.
