Simple Tips To Improve Your Health

Kick-starting your health journey involves making healthy changing. By no means does change imply pain as there are many simple things you can to improve your health.

During these unprecedented times, it is imperative to break the cycle of bad habits before it gets out of control. Taking good care of our health is our primary responsibility, yet we often neglect it. Below is a list of useful tips that can ease your way into a healthier lifestyle.

1. Tips to kickstart your health journey

Each journey begins with a destination. Therefore, you need to identify your goal by defining what you want to achieve? Is it to have a sexier body or have more energy or just feel less tired? More importantly, make sure to answer the why. The reason why you want to achieve something will be your biggest source of motivation. Make a detailed and realistic action plan and set SMART goals, meaning they are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time specific. 

• Use your body to build your confidence

Simple body language improvements such as, walking upright or smiling help to boost feel-good hormones and other biomarkers such as, testosterone while at the same time lower stress hormones such as, cortisol – of which too much isn’t good for your confidence.

Simply hold one of these poses for at least two minutes every day:

• Champion’s pose – imagine you are a runner who just reached his finish line.
• Wonder woman pose – put on your fiercest “Wonder Woman” pose with back straight and arms on your waist. Another great pose for confidence.

• Celebrate small victories – Reward yourself each time you make healthier choices or achieve a milestone.

• Seek Support – besides supporters who will cheer for you, helpers can teach you a new skill to achieve your goals faster. If you want to go a step further, getting a coach to provide you with valuable guidance can take your journey to a whole new level.

• Move your body – it’s as simple as that because movement = health. We were not made to sit 8 hours a day. Lack of movement melts your muscles, makes your bones weaker and damages your circulation. That is only the beginning of the story with a bad ending.

• Drink more water – drinking plenty of water benefits your digestion, absorption, circulation, transportation of nutrients, as well as maintenance of body temperature. Water even protects your bones, tissues, spinal cord and brain as it lubricates them as well as flushes out waste.

2. Tips for a healthier you

Many things affect our well being. Moreover, we can define wellness in terms of many dimensions: body, mind, emotions, our environment and community, emotions and finances. Each on its own can affect your quality of life. Although each is important, keeping your mental, physical, social and financial health must be your priority.

Physical

To be healthy, you need your physical body to function optimally. Our bodies give us so much, it’s about time we extend the same courtesy to them. 

Do your best to be active at least 30 minutes a day and make it a habit to stretch your body to get the oxygen moving.

The second step is to be aware of everything you feed your body with. Needless to say, do avoid tobacco, illegal drugs and drinking too much alcohol. 

Make sure you treat your body with a healthy diet by having a diverse menu filled with fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains. A healthy diet directly decreases the risk of diabetes, heart diseases, cancer and many chronic conditions.

Consume less salt to reduce the risk of high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Excess sugar increases the risk of tooth decay and unhealthy weight gain as well, so make sure you eat it in moderation.

Also, it’s always a good idea to get regular check-ups so you can identify any dis balance long before it becomes an issue.

Mental

There is no good physical health without mental health. Any sort of mental issue is bound to be reflected in your body. Stress will undoubtedly lead to spasms. A negative emotion changes the chemical substances your body produces, it’s as simple as that. Make sure you provide your body the rest it needs. No matter how busy you are, make sure you always find the time to relax. Having the time for your loved ones and doing the things you enjoy can sometimes make all the difference in the world. 

Social

You are the people you surround yourself with. Therefore, choose wisely and surround yourself only with positive and inspiring people that help you grow. Cutting ties can be a very painful process but letting people who drain you stay near you can be detrimental to your mental and emotional health. Learn that no is a complete sentence if you want to have a more peaceful life. Get rid of guilt by remembering that your only responsibility is your personal evolution. If you let energy vampires stay near you, you won’t have any energy left to grow and make your life even better.

Financial

Finances are one of the most common reasons of stress. Unexpected expenses and lack of savings are among the are major culprits. People with debt are three times more prone to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. Moreover, financial stress is the second most common cause of suicide as it can cause both physical and mental health to spiral down.

But there is plenty you can do to improve your financial health. Budgeting can be your best friend on this journey as it will teach you to spend thoughtfully and carefully. It will help you save and allow you to identify which areas you can cut costs on. For example, your utility bill which usually forms the biggest part of your monthly costs can always be significantly reduced by adopting eco-friendly habits. You can make your house eco-friendly by getting smart gadgets such as a programmable thermostat to avoid phantom energy waste. Moreover, you can go the extra mile and compare providers such as Ameren to find an even better rate that suits your usage.

Most importantly, don’t be too hard on yourself

If you fall off the wagon, don’t worry about it too much. It’s completely OK to have a blip from time to time or for your motivation to weaken. All it counts is to get up as soon as possible and make one extra step. It’s completely normal to make one wrong step, but just make sure you make two steps forward afterwards. Your goal is to alter your lifestyle for good so don’t be discouraged by a minor fall. After all, tomorrow is a new day! You were given life to live it – taking care of your health equals to making sure you do it in the best way possible.