Health Improvements You Should Make Today
It’s easy to tell yourself that you’ll work on your health tomorrow. You’ll finally use that gym membership at the weekend; you’ll give up chocolate once you’ve cleared out everything in the cabinet; perhaps you told yourself that you’ll stop drinking so much once you’ve celebrated your birthday… or your friend’s birthday… or your sister’s birthday. The point is that we’re all guilty of making promises that we never keep, regarding our health. Most of us are prone to setting goals for the future. Of course, if you really want to improve your health then you should be setting goals for today.
Making a change to your lifestyle doesn’t have to be as overwhelming as you might have built it up to be in your head. All it takes is determination and a few small changes at a time. It’s a gradual journey, and nobody’s ever going to be perfect. You’re still allowed the occasional treats in life. The point is that your unhealthy habits shouldn’t dominate your entire lifestyle. That’s when the damage starts to set in. If you want to lead a better life then you need to consider unhealthy aspects of your lifestyle that could be improved. Here are some health changes that you should make today. It’s time to stop putting it off – this is your life, after all.
Eat well.
Before you do anything else, work on your diet. You might not fully realize the impact of your diet on your overall health but it affects more than just your waistline. Your gut, essentially, controls your brain. The things we consume impact our mental health as well as our physical health. If you want to improve your mental state and overcome depression, anxiety, or stress then you need to stop filling your body with so much junk. The better you eat, the better you’ll feel. That sounds like a basic point to make, but it’s something that we could all do with being told more often.
The key is to eat a moderate, varied, and balanced diet. Those are the three key things to remember. You’re allowed treats in moderation, but the same goes for healthier foods. If you ate a diet of nothing but fruit and vegetables then that would be bad for you too; your body would be lacking so many of the nutrients and vitamins it needs. That’s why “fad diets” that essentially involve starving yourself are so unhealthy. You need a full diet. That’s where the variety comes in; you need to eat different food groups containing carbohydrates, calcium, iron, protein, potassium, and more. Don’t starve your body, and don’t see your diet as a chore either. It needs to be a permanent fixture in your life. You can eat the occasional pizza or piece of chocolate, but that’s where balance comes into the equation. Make sure you’re getting the right amount of all the different foods you need.
Find a way to be physically active on a regular basis.
Many people struggle with this piece of advice. You might be able to switch your unhealthy meals to healthier alternatives, but finding the time to exercise is a different story. You’re a busy person and you’ve no idea how to find a few extra hours in the day to dedicate towards physical activity. However, you don’t have to find much time in order to exercise effectively. Take 10 minutes out of your day to jog around your neighborhood or even jog on the spot in your living room. That’s barely any time at all, but doing this every single day could make a huge difference to your physical health. Even a brisk walk could make a difference.
Of course, you might not be as physically active as you used to be because your body doesn’t work as well as it used to. Perhaps an injury has put you out of action for many years. You might want to consult a doctor or a physician to discuss your options because there’s always a way to keep your body moving, even if you wouldn’t be able to run a marathon or lift insanely heavy weights. If you have problems with your knee joints then you might even have an ACL tear, so you should get that checked in order to ensure that your ligaments are okay and your knees are stable. All that matters is keeping your body moving. Find some way to do that and you’ll stay healthy.
Reduce your vices.
This is a relatively straightforward piece of advice, assuming you interpret it correctly. We all have some unhealthy vices. Perhaps you like the occasional glass of wine or tub of ice cream (all to yourself). On occasion, such things are fine. Such “vices” are only dangerous when they’re a key part of your daily routine. In other words, as discussed in the dietary section above, moderation is everything. Too much of anything is bad for you, as people say. Cutting down on smoking is a big one; you’ll reduce the risk of cancer and other major medical risks, but you’ll also improve your ability to exercise because you’ll have better lungs.
Improve your quality of sleep.
Another way in which you could make a massive improvement to your health is to improve your quality of sleep. You might not see this as a crucial element of a healthy lifestyle. When you eat better or exercise more frequently, you see the results in terms of having a slimmer figure. What are the benefits of sleeping better, other than feeling a little more awake? Well, sleep is actually more essential to a healthy lifestyle than you realize. Obviously, you know that sleep deprivation leads to a lack of energy and concentration, but you might not realize just how deeply the detrimental health effects go.
The lack of energy that stems from sleep deprivation is symptomatic of a larger problem. When you deny your body the sleep it needs, you’re essentially denying yourself a crucial “recovery period”. Without the ability to rest and recover at the end of the day, you’re weakening your body. Your immune system will suffer and you’ll be more susceptible to getting ill. Additionally, your mental health will suffer. Sleeping poorly has so many knock-on effects. Make sure that you get your 8 hours of sleep and that your mattress is firm; your body needs support whilst you rest.
