You don’t have to wait until a new year starts in order to start living a healthier life. Living a healthy life doesn’t have to be difficult, or draining to do, and can be quite simple to start! All you need is a bit of determination, a little support, and a bit of knowledge to understand how to best make use of your new-found will to live healthier.
What Is Health?
When people think of how to start living a healthier life, they might be thinking of ways to improve their physical health. However, did you know that living healthy means more than just being physically healthy? To be healthy means having emotional, mental, spiritual, and your physical well-being all in order, and this can be more difficult for some than others. But, not to worry, there’s a myriad of health tips and tricks out there that you can put into practice beginning today to start living a healthier life. Even understand this can help motivate you and get you going on the right track towards healthy living.
Forming Habits
One of the most important ways to know how to start living a healthier life, is to remember the importance of habit-forming. Habits can be both good and bad, and depending on which you develop, can either help or hurt your health. Forming healthy habits is quite simple, and can be done easily if you combine learning new habits into your lifestyle today. It takes on average only 60 days to form a life-long habit, so the sooner you start, the better.
For instance, if you drink coffee in the mornings, why not read a book while drinking your coffee, or journal in the mornings? If you always listen to the news before you shower, try listening to a meditation podcast. These are just some tips to let you know how to start living a healthier life. Below are 15 tips you can use to begin your health journey. Talk to your doctor beforehand for any more health concerns, and remember to not give up!
1. Start Daily Exercises
If you’re wondering how to start living a healthier life, there’s no better way than to start exercising every day. Exercising is the fastest way to burn calories, lose weight, and also maintain your body’s physical functions at optimum levels. Running, power-walking, bicycling, swimming, and everything in between can help you to start exercising and living a healthier life. Check with your doctor before starting a new exercise plan, and start off slow. Chances are, your doctor will recommend you start exercising for the benefits. In fact, running on a regular basis can help reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks!
2. Drink More Water
Drinking water might be one of the most beneficial and most simple tips to starting to live a healthier life. Water does wonders in waking up our organs in the morning, ensuring organs such as kidneys are functioning properly, and ensures our bodies don’t face dehydration. Some signs you need more water are dark urine, constant fatigue, headaches, and thirst. Add some lemon or fennel to your water along with fresh fruits for added health benefits!
3. Balance Healthy Foods
Eating healthy foods might seem like a given, but it can be difficult to do when you’re on the run and busy like most adults. Meal-prepping your breakfasts, lunches, and dinner ahead of time can take only an hour or two out of your week, but is worth it in order to help you eat healthy, balanced meals and also save money. Make your own sauce for pastas with lots of veggies for a quick weekday meal, or cook up some egg whites in muffin-tips for quick quiches on the go. With the advent of the internet, it’s super simple and fun to find recipes to cook, eat, and enjoy throughout the week.
4. Find Time to Meditate
If you want to know how to start living a healthier life, you must begin and end your journey with mental and spiritual health. There’s no better way to improve both than with meditation. Meditation has been found to slow anxious thoughts that can plague our minds, lower stress levels, and overall make people happier and more relaxed throughout the day. It’s easy to start meditating in the mornings, or even during the sunsets when you’re home. Find a time of day to set aside for meditation. Even if you’re at work, doing simple mindfulness exercises can be beneficial in lowering your stress levels at work. Simply find a quiet space, relax for 15 minutes, and you’re well on your way to living a healthier life.
5. Spend Time Outdoors
Spending time outdoors is one of the best ways to reset, enjoy nature, and relax and have fun during your busy life. You can even do this outside your own home by setting up a quick camping experience with your family! If your garden is filled with unwanted insects, you can get the help of pest control or a killer bee extermination company to ensure your backyard is suitable for mini-camping that you’ll take part in. In addition, find nearby hiking trails, nearby camping and nature centers, or simply take a walk to the beach to get in all that great natural oxygen.
6. Pick Up a Hobby
A hobby is one of the best ways to let out energy, have something to look forward to throughout the week, and improve your mental health. Many times, stress from work, family, and school can leave you feeling as if there’s no end in sight and no time to do things you enjoy for yourself. Getting a hobby can help get you in touch with your old interests, and prevent feelings such as depression and hopelessness from surfacing if you’re going through a rough time. If you have a shed or garage, do some simple maintenance such as re-organizing or fixing your overhead garage door, put in some work tools, and start working on projects that make you happy.
7. Do Stretching Exercises
When looking at how to start living a healthier life, don’t forget to include exercises to improve your stretching. Cardio, muscle strength, and flexibility are all parts of living healthier, and it can be easy to forget to stretch. Nevertheless, some great exercise programs exist to get you to be more flexible and keep your muscles limber. Yoga is a great way to get started being more flexible while also practicing mindfulness. You can contact a carpet and flooring company to install hardwood flooring in your home, set up your own personal mini-yoga studio, and begin your journey towards better health.
8. Improve Muscle Strength
Muscle strength is an important part of being an overall physically healthy person. Having good muscle strength can help to keep your body strong even in your older years. Use a stairclimber to build up muscle in your legs, or better yet, take the stairs instead of the elevator! Small tips such as this can help you live a healthier life, and it doesn’t have to be difficult. One of the most important parts of knowing how to start living a healthier life is to understand that it all starts with small habits. In addition to taking the stairs, don’t be afraid to lift weights, do some leg presses, and pull-ups at the gym. All are great exercising to help you tone and increase muscle strength.
9. Don’t Miss Medical Check-Ups
Your medical check-ups might seem like a drag to you, but they’re absolutely important if you want to know how to start living a healthier life. Some health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure can have early signs that your doctor can make you aware of. These early signs allow you to start making changes to your health and lifestyle in order to prevent these illnesses from becoming full-blown diseases. Don’t miss any check-ups with your doctor, even if it involves the dreaded prostate exam or dental cleaning. All are important to maintaining knowledge of your health!
10. Care for Your Dental Hygiene
Speaking of dentists, did you know that dental care is one of the most important parts of your overall health? If you don’t get dental care treatment, you can be sure to get a few dental problems that can wreak havoc on your health. Cavities, yellowing teeth, crowded teeth, impacted and painful infections are just some of dental problems that can arise and worsen if not treated in time. You can even get the help of cosmetic dentistry to treat dental issues that might not be hazardous to your health, but still need to be addressed at some point. Make it a habit to schedule dental and medical appointments near each other to make it easier to keep track of your health appointments.
11. Have a Daily Skin Care Routine
Your skin is the biggest organ in your body, and should most certainly be taken care of. If you want to know how to start living a healthier life, look no further than taking care of your skin with a daily skin care routine. Damaged skin can cause painful blemishes, acne that can worsen, and even skin cancer if you over-tan or are exposed to the sun often. Using cleansers, moisturizers, sunscreen when appropriate, and toners are all great ways of keeping your skin healthy and fresh. In addition, keep hydrated to keep your skin supple and smooth!
12. Tidy Up Around the Home
Studies have shown that a dirty, messy home impacts your health negatively. From not being able to concentrate to not being safe for yourself or your kids, a messy home can be dangerous for your mental and physical well-being. Start by making your home safer, such as getting a guardrail installation, screwing in cabinets to the wall, and removing earthquake hazards like vases off of high shelves. Then, tidy up and re-organize your home to ensure you are truly able to concentrate, have a clear mind, and improve your mental health. </p.
13. Make an Effort to See Friends
Not many people know that having a healthy social life is one of the most important aspects of being an overall healthy and happy person. Make an effort to see friends and family, and even include them in things such as exercising or meditation to get extra health benefits. Visit a sushi restaurant instead of a bar to eat healthier, take walks, or go camping with your friends. All are important to maintaining good mental health. Neglecting your social life can lead to feelings of loneliness, disassociation, and worst of all depression that can wreak havoc on your well-being.
14. Read and Journal
If you want to know how to start living a healthier life today, one of the best ways to start is by reading and journaling. Reading helps to maintain your cognitive processing abilities at a good level, even as you age, and has also been proven to be one of the best ways to reduce anxiety and stress in as little as 15 minutes. Journaling has been shown to improve anxiety levels also, as it allows you to write down your feelings on paper and get them out of you. Both are great ways of ensuring that your mental, cognitive, and emotional health are all being taken care of. Find at least 15 minutes a day to read or journal, whether in the morning or at night, and combine it with your morning coffee or another part of your routine to ensure it stays a habit.
15. Invest in Therapy
Your mental health is arguably the most important aspect of living a healthy life. Without good mental health, you won’t have the motivation to even focus on physical or emotional health. If you find yourself feeling constantly down, worried, or stressed, talking to a therapist is a great way to start living a healthier life. If you don’t want to go to therapy, some more ways on how to start living a healthier life is to practice cognitive therapy skills on your own, or even use self-help books to improve your mental and emotional health.