6 Easy Ways to Become Healthier

How healthy are you? Do you exercise regularly? Do you have a healthy diet? Do you drink a minimum of eight glasses of water every day? Do you live a healthy lifestyle? Researches have shown that the key to lifelong good health is - making simple changes in diet, exercise, and stress management. 

Achieving optimal health is primarily a mindset; it’s about choosing and deciding to live with intention. A quick exercise is to ask yourself ‘what things can I do every day to reach my optimal health?’ Maybe it has to do with your eating habits, what you’re choosing to put into your body. Or perhaps you need to develop a daily stretching routine or you could join yoga classes with your friends. You can create a list of healthy ideas that can guide you towards your optimal health. 

The World Health Day is celebrated every year on 7th April to spread awareness around having a balanced lifestyle and good health.

If you looking to adopt a healthy lifestyle starting today, we have a list of 6 simple ways that you can begin:

1. Drinking more water- Most of us don’t drink enough water every day. Water is essential for our bodies to function. Do you know over 60% of our body is made up of water? Water is needed to carry out body functions, remove waste, and carry nutrients and oxygen around our body. Since we lose water daily through urine, bowel movements, perspiration, and breathing, we need to replenish our water intake.

2. Getting enough sleep- When you don’t rest properly, you compensate by eating more and usually, it is junk food. Get enough rest and you don’t need to snack to stay awake. If you have trouble sleeping, try relaxation techniques such as meditation, deep breathing exercises and yoga. Darken your room more and turn your clock away from you. Write down worries or stressful thoughts to get them out of your head and onto the page. This will help you put them into perspective so you can quit worrying about them. You should also be aware that lack of sleep causes premature ageing.

3. Exercising daily- Movement is life. Research has shown that exercising daily brings tremendous benefits to our health, including an increase in lifespan, lowering of risk of diseases, higher bone density, and weight loss. If you want to live well and live longer, you must exercise! Studies show that even ten minutes of exercise makes a difference. Increase daily activity in your life. Choose walking over cars/bikes for close distances. Climb the stairs instead of taking the lift. Join an aerobics class or a pilates class. Pick a sport you like the most and carve out time daily.
   
   

4. Maintaining proper diet-  It’s best to have a combination of plant-based and meat-based diet - chicken breast, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, as well as healthy fats, oils and dairy products. Fruits have tons of vitamins and minerals. Oranges offer more health benefits than vitamin C pills. It's best if you consume your vitamins and minerals through your diet rather than through pills. Avoid eating processed and packaged foods. Processed food is bad for your health and it leads to blood pressure and heart disease.
   Whatever you do, make an effort to choose whole, unprocessed foods instead of foods that look like they were processed and ready-made.
   
   

5. Thinking positive and focusing on gratitude-  Gratitude can make people happier, improve their relationships, and potentially even prevent suicidal thoughts and depression. Some studies have also associated gratitude with benefits like - fewer aches and pains to improve sleep and better cardiovascular health. Research shows a healthy positive attitude helps build a healthier immune system and boosts overall health. Your body believes what you think, so focus on the positive.

6. Avoid taking too much stress- Stress can affect all aspects of your life, including your emotions, behaviours, thinking ability, and physical health. No part of the body is immune. Stress can lead to depression which is a major health problem today. To reduce stress, try to simplify your life - exercise, take nature walks, practice deep-breathing techniques and maybe even meditation. If you absolutely cannot handle the burdens of your daily life without becoming overly stressed, consider seeing a psychologist. Not only will overcoming your stress make you healthier, but it will also improve your life in other ways.