Most humans want to live healthy lives but fail to do so because they imagine that the only way to do that is to completely overhaul their old habits and make gigantic leaps in routine and lifestyle. That’s not accurate though. To begin living a healthy life doesn’t require immediate huge changes in lifestyle, but a few simple changes in daily routine can make significant differences. Even though you may not see results, over time, these little changes will add up and you wouldn't even notice it!
Simple Health Practices
Don't go running to sign a one-year contract at your local gym just yet! Here are some simple tips to get you started down the right path. The key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle comes from building a sustainable daily routine and avoiding burnout. Extreme diets and workout plans will just lead to 'yo-yo' diets, where you lose the weight and gain it back immediately after you finish your plan. Remember, we're running a marathon, so pace yourself, be patient, and it's okay to take baby steps!
Some of the major practices that help to improve health and well-being are:
Regular exercise
It’s cliché to tell you regular exercise is great for your health, the point is – as you may have discovered – carving out time daily for exercise is more difficult than it sounds. Here’s what you can do if you can’t find time to exercise every day
- Always take the stairs when you have to visit a higher floor or at any chance you get
- Take a little walk after every meal
- Try dropping off a block away from your home, office, or anywhere you intend to visit and complete the journey on foot.
The idea here is to be in the habit of getting as much exercise at every opportunity you get without having to assign a particular time for it. Again, the idea is to start with baby steps and not burn yourself out before you get started. We love morning walks to the coffee shop to get our caffeine fix and natural endorphin rush!
Practice Meditation
Meditation techniques have become more popular in recent years as stress levels have risen with technological advancements and workplace pressures. Meditation involves concentrating on breathing and directing your thoughts in positive directions. It helps to lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and improve sleep quality.
Practicing meditation and mindfulness may not seem like the craziest workout, but training your mind is one of the most important steps we seem to forget about.
There are a lot of free resources for you to get started. Here is our list of favorite meditation apps:
1) Calm
2) Headspace
3) 10% Happier
4) Insight Timer
5) Buddhify
6) Stop, Think, Breathe
7) Simple Habit
8) Aura
9) Sattva
Improved diet
Perhaps the best step you can take towards healthy living is eating right. Whatever enters your body is the most likely to affect your health and you take in food every day. Many nutritionists insist that the major causes of the prevalent degenerative diseases like cancer, heart diseases, stroke, and diabetes are linked to unhealthy diet choices.
This method of thinking is backed by an ancient quote by the famous Greek physician Hippocrates who stated: “let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.” A conscious effort to eat right and study the nutritional benefits of everything you put in your body significantly slashes your chances of falling ill to a degenerative disease.
The above practices are the most essential and common practices that almost guarantee good health and quick stress recovery. Moving forward, some other practices and activities can further strengthen your wellbeing
- Taking bath with Epsom salt can help relieve stress and clear the mind
- Drink as much water as possible
- Reduce your salt and fat intake
- Incorporate herbal supplements in your regular meal plans
- Take a glass of red wine daily
- Sleep for about 8 hours every day
- Take as many fruits as you can
- Try to keep a diary
- Use essential oils like chamomile oil, lavender oil, lemon oil, and geranium oil to stimulate relaxation and relieve stress.
It won’t happen in a day or two, maybe not in a month either, but consistent application of the above simple practices will produce outstanding health improvements eventually.
Now, grab your best pal and let's do this together 💪🏾
