‘Health is wealth.’ Today, this age-old wisdom holds an even stronger resonance given our modern realities and rushed lifestyles. Over the past few decades, there has been a notable uptick in chronic illnesses and autoimmune conditions, prompting a heightened awareness and mindfulness toward personal health.
This awakening has spurred a proactive shift in lifestyle choices, placing health, fitness, and nutrition at the forefront for many people. It has ignited a movement aimed at preemptively addressing potential health risks, highlighting the significance of simple yet impactful changes in our daily routines.
The trajectory of our health is profoundly influenced by the choices we make, whether positive or detrimental, dictated by the habits we adopt or knowledge we disregard. Despite life’s external pressures, our health and potential longevity are within our grasp, to a large extent at least.
Here are ways to get healthier and stay healthier, by doing simple things every single day.
Maintain A Healthy Weight
You know about this one, don’t you!? Maintaining a healthy weight goes far beyond staying physically fit.
Your body weight has a significant impact on your health. Being overweight or reaching a point of obesity can be extremely dangerous as obesity is a precursor to a multitude of diseases including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, respiratory disorders, heart disease, and some cancers.
The risk of developing either of these conditions can be significantly reduced by maintaining an ideal body weight.
Eat Nutritious Foods
“Every time you eat or drink, you are either feeding disease or fighting it.”
– Heather Morgan
Nutrition and health are closely linked. Staying healthy means being super good with your diet and nutrition, as good nutrition can help prevent many diseases. This is the part of your health you can control. Be on top of your nutrition choices. Eat more fruit, vegetables, and high-fiber foods, and stay away from harmful processed foods and sweets. Make sure you drink plenty of water too.
Be Physically Active
There are huge benefits to regular exercise. They include regulating your body weight as we mentioned above, balancing your blood sugar and insulin levels, strengthening your bones and muscles, reducing your risk of poor health and disease, and keeping you feeling more positive and emotionally healthy. Physical activities naturally boost your mood, so exercise is beneficial for both your physical and mental health.
Let the Bad Habits Go
Before you can get healthy you need to identify the bad habits that keep you unhealthy. You need to identify them and let them go. Although habits are not as easy to break, decisiveness and taking small consistent steps daily go a long way.
It’s important to start with your mindset. Accept where you are right now, and acknowledge where you want to be long term. Once you’ve identified some of your bad habits such as smoking, drinking too much alcohol, poor sleeping habits, or unhealthy night-time rituals (such as scrolling your social media feeds), you can decide to change and replace these habits with good, healthy habits.
Think Positively
Good health means more than just eating right and staying physically active. A big, and very important component of your health, is your mind and your emotions. Maintaining a positive mindset plays a pivotal role in fostering good health.
The undeniable link between the mind and body (known as the mind-body connection), reveals that negative thoughts can deeply impact your consciousness and physical well-being, much more than you may realize. Conversely, opting for positivity can genuinely enhance your overall health and wellness.
Be Grateful Every Day
Adopting a happy disposition and a grateful attitude go hand in hand. The power of gratitude can significantly impact both your physical and psychological health. An attitude of gratitude can help ease away a multitude of toxic emotions that can plague your life. It can also help increase feelings of happiness and keep the blues at bay.
Be Mindful – Practice Mindfulness and Become Aware
Mindfulness is the act of separating yourself from your thoughts, emotions, and judgments surrounding your life, by staying objectively aware of the present moment. Through mindfulness practice, you can be more attuned to your physical body and learn to listen to what it needs. By being in a level of consciousness, you can choose to be more proactive about your health.
Mindfulness can improve your health through a sharpened mind-body connection, increased levels of happiness, focus, productivity, and an enhanced ability to let go of stress.
In Summary
Your state of health can be controlled by you to a large degree. You don’t have to leave it all to chance! So be proactive and take care of yourself, starting right now. You can if you really want to. It’s your choice.