Find Your Balance: How Healthy Habits Will Boost Your Life
From the winter sniffles to those extra pounds you’ve been meaning to drop, there are many reminders in daily life that make us, however briefly, remember how important it is that we steer our health in the right direction. Some of us have further to travel than others, but no matter where you stand currently, it’s important you are always taking steps to maintain and improve your health.
The World’s Biggest Mistake Isn’t What You Think
Many of us overeat, many more of us eat all the wrong things, but did you know that more and more scientists are beginning to agree that diet isn’t the world’s biggest problem? Actually, it’s sleep.
Most people today are spending more time at work, more time commuting to and from work, and in general: less time getting good quality sleep. If you find yourself tossing and turning all night, it might be time for a darker, quieter room, a new mattress, a solid sleep schedule, or all of the above.
Good quality sleep means you are sleeping solidly through the night without disturbance and with little to no trouble falling asleep or waking up. If you’re not clocking a solid 8-10 hours each and every night of high quality sleep, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. Not only are you going to experience short-term effects like poor energy and focus, long-term effects can include weight gain, increased stress levels, memory issues, and more.
In other words, sleep might be the new most important part of your day.
Diet and Nutrition Are Still Extremely Important
While getting enough rest is important to your health, diet and nutrition can’t be overstated either. If you aren’t giving your body the fuel it needs to power through the day, you are quickly going to find yourself lacking energy and motivation no matter how much sleep you may be getting at night.
Eating right is an essential part of having good focus, creativity, and happiness. Without the right nutrition, your body’s mood and energy levels will be affected and, of course, you’ll also experience plenty of negative side effects, from weight gain to increased risk for disease and a lot more.
Natural supplements can help you boost your current diet by adding in the essential minerals and nutrients that may be missing from the foods you eat on a daily basis. These supplements can also be used to give you a boost of energy or even surpress your appetite, enabling you to live a healthier lifestyle without having to put in quite as much willpower.
Of course, when it comes down to it, you have to know about portion control and knowing how to make healthy choices.
Bringing It All Together
It’s not enough to simply try to sleep more and add a couple of supplements to your diet. You have to be making changes to your on-going routine if you want to see positive changes happen in your life. Just going on a diet for 2 days, 2 weeks, or even 2 months won’t change anything. You need to make a lifestyle change if you want to see a lifelong impact.
Experts agree that this means making subtle changes to your daily routine so that you can slowly begin to replace your unhealthy habits with healthier ones. This method will make these changes more sustianable, compared to trying to change everything you’re doing overnight, which is very likely to lead to relapse later on.
The idea is to write down some of the things you do every day. Do you wake up at 5? Maybe you should clock in an extra hour of sleep in the morning or, better yet, begin going to bed an hour earlier so you can wake well-rested. Or, maybe you chug two cups of coffee first thing for energy. Moving around your sleep schedule and going for a brisk walk instead could be a better option.
Once you have identified some of the habits in your daily routine that you can slightly change to make them a bit healthier, you’ll be able to begin seeing subtle changes in how you look and feel too. With time, these changes will become your new habits and, before you know it, you will have completely re-designed your life into something so much healthier.
It really is as simple as making a small change! Start with baby steps and take it from there. The shift should be very gradual and, in fact, very simple. With time, you’ll begin to see the positive effects of the changes you are making. Just figure out what will work for you and, more importantly: stick to it for the long haul!