Healthy lifestyle habits can help you feel better, reduce disease risk, extend life span and save money. Start small changes and build them over time.
Healthy lifestyle behaviors include adhering to a nutritious diet, engaging in regular physical activity and maintaining an ideal body weight, not smoking or consuming too much alcohol, and managing stress effectively.
1. Eat a Balanced Diet
A nutritious diet provides your body with essential vitamins and nutrients it needs to remain strong and fight disease. A balanced diet includes food from all major food groups with reduced amounts of added sugar, salt and saturated fat; including fruits and vegetables as well as whole grains, lean meats/fish/nuts/seeds in moderation as well as limited dairy products and milk products.
Diet and exercise combined can make you more energetic, making it easier to manage stress and enjoy life. Start small by making incremental changes until you achieve optimal health over time – tracking progress in a journal or app may be useful in staying motivated on this journey to a healthy lifestyle; remembering why your goals exist will help stay on the journey toward emotional wellbeing, enabling you to better handle life’s ups and downs.
2. Exercise Regularly
Regular exercise is an integral component of leading a healthy lifestyle. Regular physical activity reduces your risk for diseases like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes while helping you achieve weight management and reduced blood pressure.
Experts advise adults to participate in at least 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity every week, ideally all. Furthermore, two muscle strengthening activities should also be practiced weekly.
Fitness doesn’t have to be time-consuming or boring – even just 30 minutes of physical activity most days is enough! Break it up into three 10-minute sessions when time is tight for maximum benefit.
Exercise may help improve both your mood and sleep quality. Exercise can even boost levels of serotonin and endorphins to further elevate mood and help fight depression and stress.
3. Get Enough Sleep
Sleep is one of the cornerstones of health. Ensuring adequate quality rest helps manage energy levels, improve mood, improve memory and problem-solving skills and lower heart disease risks as well as making exercise a less daunting prospect. Getting enough restful rest also reduces heart disease risks such as obesity and diabetes risk factors while making regular physical activity simpler to undertake.
Sleep deprivation can create issues with attention, concentration and reaction times as well as depression, anxiety and weight gain – not to mention making it hard to think clearly and remember details.
Sleep helps restore hormone balance and maintain immune and circulatory systems health, and allows the brain to convert short-term memories into long-term ones, aiding learning and recall. Adults require between seven and nine hours of quality rest each night. Establishing good sleeping habits such as going to bed at the same time every night and turning off electronic devices before sleep time will help ensure you receive sufficient restful rest.
4. Manage Stress
Stress is an everyday part of life and sometimes beneficial, but chronic anxiety can cause serious health complications. Learning healthy ways to cope with and control your stress may help lower levels and avoid these serious side-effects.
Healthy ways to relieve stress include exercising regularly, eating nutritiously and getting enough sleep. You could also try relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga or deep breathing; socializing with family and friends or engaging in spiritual practices like prayer or journaling may also provide relief.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by stress, BetterHelp offers licensed therapists who can provide assistance and improve your wellbeing.
