Good health of mind and body is crucial for everyone. When you are healthy, you can actively be involved with others around you and their well-being. Good health cannot be achieved in a single day.
The journey for a healthy life begins with small steps. However, with the current scenario of things and events that surround us, it will be an uphill task to start bringing positive changes to one’s Lifestyle and diet. Several global health issues are constantly casting a threat to our health.
These threats include pollution, pandemic, diseases, environmental disasters, and humanitarian crises. Some of these threats are drug-resistant.
A healthy lifestyle can prevent you from chronic diseases and certain types of cancer. It can also boost energy and improve immunity and quality of life.
We bring to you ten important habits that you must start adopting to switch to a healthy lifestyle.
1. Have a Good Sleep: Recent studies have shown people sleeping less than 7 hours a day are at a high risk of suffering from heart-related diseases, kidney diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression. Here are simple tips that will help you sleep on time.
- Restrict yourself from seeing any type of screen one hour before your bedtime.
- Calm your mind by listening to soothing instrumental music or reading a book.
2. Plan and stock up on your meal: As you try to adapt to a healthier way of living, you must start making healthier choices and abstain from junk food. A diet with fiber, vegetables, fruits, and proteins can improve your health drastically. For this, you must plan your meals well in advance so you can arrange for them.
3. Drink sufficient water and fluids: Our body requires water to function normally. Adequate water is essential for digestion and other functions of our body. If you are not drinking sufficient water or fluids, you may get dehydrated, leading to many other complications. Consuming minimum of eight glasses of water a day should be helpful for your body to function well.
4. Snack on healthy food: Ensure you have stacked up healthy snacks at home, at work, in your travel case, and everywhere around you. When hunger strikes, you tend to eat readily available junk food around you. Instead, keep a mix of nuts and dry fruits handy, as they are great snacking options with a load of health benefits.
5. Switch to low-fat products: Instead of consuming traditional dairy products, you could switch to low-fat products. Low-fat (1%) or fat-free (skim) yogurt and cottage cheese can be consumed. Cow milk has lower fat than buffalo milk. Choose dairy products with low-fat content.
6. Practice good Gut health: An unhealthy gut may affect your immune system, contribute to disease, and impact mental health. Eating a plant-based diet rich in fiber, fermented foods, fruits, and vegetables, having a sufficient sleep and managing your stress levels are other ways to have a healthy gut.
7. Enjoy your meal: While you have your meal, take smaller morsels and chew your food properly instead of gulping it down. This is helpful in digestion. Also, avoid distractions while eating, such as turning mealtime into screen time! It may not be such a great idea! Focus on your meal, relish it, enjoy it!
8. Do something healthy every day: Train yourself to make healthy choices over unhealthy ones. For instance, pick a fruit or fruit juice over a carbonated drink! By doing so, you will gradually make your Lifestyle healthy.
9. Stay Physically Active: Being physically active is equally important as eating well and having a sufficient sleep. It helps in weight management, improve mental health, strengthens bones and muscles, helps in boosting immunity, reduces the risk of diseases, and improves stamina.
10. Exercise with a group: When you work out with others, you tend to push yourself to greater limits. A group workout helps us to increase our commitment levels.
Adopting to a healthier lifestyle may protect you from health problems like obesity and diabetes.
It’s never too late to make healthy choices; small changes can make a big difference over time. So, whether it’s taking a short walk, preferring fruits and vegetables over processed food, or avoiding high-sugar food, it can help you live longer, healthier and happier.
As you start adopting healthy habits little by little, soon you will find that these habits have become an integral part of your life. Start early, start today!
