Five Healthy Habits for a Healthier Life
In the hustle and bustle of daily life, it can get difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle. However, incorporating simple beneficial habits into your daily routine can help you live an overall healthy and happy life.
“You may have heard it said that health is a habit,” says PIH Health Family Medicine physician, Thilan Fernando MD. “Changing your habits is a process that involves several stages. Sometimes it takes a while to incorporate changes to your lifestyle, and you may face roadblocks along the way. However, adopting new, healthier habits may protect you from serious health problems like heart disease, obesity and diabetes, and may also help you manage your weight, have more energy, and improve your quality of life.”
Try to practice these five healthy habits daily which can help to transform your overall health for the better.
Drink More Water
It’s suggested that you drink at least 64 ounces or eight glasses of water each day, and even more on those hot summer days. Healthy water intake daily is essential to carrying nutrients and oxygen to your cells, flushing bacteria from your bladder. It also aids in digestion, prevents constipation, normalizes blood pressure, cushions joints, and protects organs and tissues. Additionally, drinking a glass of water 30 minutes before every meal will help you feel fuller while eating, making it easier to lose weight.
Go for Evening Walks
The American Heart Association recommends that you engage in moderate exercise for at least 150 minutes per week. One way to remember this is for you to participate in a physical activity for 30 minutes five days per week, such as taking a nice walk after dinner. An evening stroll can benefit your heart health as well as contribute to improved digestion, blood sugar management, regulated blood pressure, and weight loss.
Eat More Veggies
It can be hard to stick to three healthy meals and snacks each day, especially if you are unable to make time to meal plan. However, by integrating a variety of vegetables into your daily diet, your health can benefit greatly over time. Vegetables provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of your body. Eating more veggies can help to lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some types of cancer, lower risk of eye and digestive problems, and have a positive effect upon blood sugar, which can help keep appetite in check.
Taking Daily Vitamins
To function properly your body needs vitamins and nutrients. For that, you need to eat a balanced diet. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to eat the right food every day. Multivitamins and vitamin supplements are used to provide vitamins that are not taken in through your diet and help bridge some nutrient gaps so you can meet the recommended amount of nutrients. Taking a multivitamin or vitamin supplements can help to increase energy levels, improve mood, reduce stress and anxiety, improve short-term memory, and maintain muscle strength. It’s important to talk to your doctor before adding any vitamin supplements to your diet.
Get a Good Night’s Sleep
Your body needs sleep, just as it needs air and food to function at its best. During sleep, your body heals itself and restores its chemical balance and your brain forges new thought connections retains memory. Most adults need seven to eight hours of sleep on a regular schedule each night. Getting enough sleep isn’t only about total hours of sleep. It’s also important to get good quality sleep so you feel rested when you wake up. Sleep can boost your immune system, prevent weight gain, strengthen your heart, improve your mood and memory, and increase your daily productivity. Lack of sleep can be dangerous to your health. Without enough sleep, your brain and body systems won’t function normally, and can also dramatically lower your quality of life.
"Start with just one healthy habit, and then once you’ve successfully added that to your daily routine build on that by adding one more, and then one more after that until you've created a strong foundation," says Dr. Fernando. “It is also important to speak with your doctor about the healthy habits you want to take on to make sure they are appropriate for you based on your current health condition.”
Incorporating these five healthy habits can help you to maintain a healthy and happy lifestyle. With some consistency, these habits will become second nature to your daily routine. You’ll thank yourself when you start to reap the benefits of your determination!
