Living a healthy lifestyle is essential to living longer and avoiding diseases. But staying healthy and fit is considered one of the most difficult milestones in one’s life.
People often complain that the pull towards unhealthy habits such as late-night partying, smoking, clubbing with friends, etc., make it quite difficult to lead a healthy life.
But is it really difficult to live a healthy life?
You will know about it when you look at ways of achieving a healthier and fitter life. Here are some simple ways that ensure that you are living a healthy life.
1. Start your day with the right foot out
Your dedication to a healthy regime starts with the start of your day. So, start your day with healthy activities.
After you get up, drink plenty of water to hydrate your body.
Besides drinking water, having a fulfilling breakfast is essential too. When you don’t start your day with a breakfast and keep your body hungry for extended periods, your body compensates for the deficiencies by releasing hormones to release sugar through a process called hypoglycemia. While it does good to make up for the sugar level, it can cause a sudden rise in blood sugar levels, which causes headaches and migraine.
2. Stay away from alcohol
Alcohol is anti to your resolution of living a healthy lifestyle. Even if you start with a few drinks, there is always a chance that you will begin to drink in unhealthy quantities.
Alcohol addiction is one of the main reasons people are admitted to addiction rehabs such as Delphi Health Group, where they become part of various therapies and addiction recovery programs. But we all know that prevention is better than getting treatment. Therefore, it is better to avoid alcohol by all means you can.
Don’t surround yourself with people who are heavy drinkers, and avoid late-night parties where alcohol runs like water.
3. Eat vegetable and fruits
Eating fruits and vegetables is highly essential for your body. They are naturally good and contain vitamins and minerals that are beneficial in your fight against diseases.
Fruits and vegetables are also low in sugar, salt, and fat, so they don’t make you obese or cause other health issues such as cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Adding a balanced portion of fruits and vegetables to your diet helps lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, controls your weight, and prevents obesity.
Fruits and vegetables also contain phytochemicals— biologically active substances that help fight several diseases.
4. Keep your body hydrated
Water is vital for your body to carry out many functions such as sweating, urinating, and adequate bowel movement. Sweat is required when you are exercising or when living in hotter areas.
Athletes may perspire around six to ten percent of their body’s water during physical activity.
Sweating keeps your body cool and regulates its temperature, affecting your power and endurance. But sweating also means that you have to replenish the lost water through drinking.
Your body also needs water to have a healthy stool and prevent constipation. Kidneys require water to remove the waste through urination. Keeping yourself hydrated means strengthening your kidneys and helping them work more efficiently.
Water also supports the proper absorption of nutrients. It dissolves minerals and vitamins extracted from the food and transports them to the various body parts through blood by maintaining the right consistency.
5. Exercise every day
Contrary to popular belief, exercise is not limited to what you do in the gym. Other forms of exercise include swimming, playing basketball, frisbee, cycling, jogging, running, brisk walking, etc.
Exercise has been shown to improve mood and makes you feel accomplished about your life. It produces changes in the areas of the brain that control anxiety and stress. This is the reason that when you exercise, you feel less stressed.
Furthermore, physical activity improves your brain’s sensitivity to serotonin and norepinephrine hormones, which can relieve depression. In a study that included 24 women diagnosed with depression, exercise significantly reduced the intensity of their illness.
Exercise also helps in weight loss. Studies have shown that languorous life is a major reason causing weight gain and obesity—exercise reduces weight by increasing your metabolic rate that burns calories faster.
It can help unleash your pent-up energy and reduces the feeling of fatigue. As you move your body and breathe deeply, your blood gets more oxygen and delivers it to various body parts.
6. Get proper sleep
Sleep is essential for your body and regulating its functions. In fact, sleep is as important as eating a healthy diet or doing exercise.
The need for sleep varies among people of different ages; adults require seven to nine hours of sleep. But unfortunately, most people either don’t find time to sleep due to responsibilities or don’t make time for proper rest.
Sleep deprivation makes your body vulnerable to disease attacks. Therefore, you must prioritize sleep over other activities. Lack of sleep also surges your chances of obesity. According to a 2020 study, it was found that adults who sleep for less than 7 hours had a 41% increased risk of getting obese, whereas getting more didn’t increase the risk.
Sleep also improves concentration and productivity. Lack of sleep adversely impacts cognition, attention, concentration, reasoning, memory, etc. Similarly, getting enough sleep increases academic performance in kids, adults, and adolescents.
Moreover, sleep improves your athletic performance by enhancing your motor skills, muscle power, muscular endurance, and problem-solving skills. On the other hand, lack of sleep reduces your motivation to exercise and increases the chances of injury.
Sleeping also strengthens your heart. An analysis comprising 19 studies found that adults who sleep for less than seven hours have a 13% increased risk of heart disease.
Conclusion
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is your ticket to living longer and enjoying your life to the fullest. You can save your body from disease attacks, keeps it rejuvenated and attentive, and feel much happier about your life.
After reading all the ways you can live a healthy life, do you still think it is challenging to live a healthy lifestyle? We hope the answer is a No.