8 Healthy Habits to Adopt
Most of us want to be happier and healthier. There are some good, healthy habits we can easily adopt right now that will see us through the coming months in the best shape ever.
The most important thing to remember about adopting healthy habits is to add in one at a time, so as not to become overwhelmed and make it that much harder to do.
Here’s my list of eight healthy habits that you can add to your day-to-day life and that will make a big difference in your physical and emotional well-being.
Check out These Eight, Great Healthy Habits
1: Make sure to get a good night’s sleep.
Studies are showing how important it is to get enough sleep every night. Seven to eight hours is ideal. During sleep, your brain is literally washed with cerebral-spinal fluid, which detoxifies and renews this vital organ and may ward off neuro-degenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s.
2: Add some exercise into your daily routine.
Walk or bike to work; do some stretches before bed; play tennis, badminton or softball on the weekends; use that apartment/condo pool and go swimming when you get home from work; take a Zumba, salsa, or hip-hop class on the weekends.
Try to add 30-60 minutes of exercise into each day and watch how your energy, strength, flexibility, and mood begin to improve with your new healthy habits.
3: Add more fresh foods into your daily diet.
Eat more salad, steamed veggies, legumes, and fresh fruit in your daily meals and snacks. These foods will stabilize your blood sugar, ward off cancer, prevent heart disease, regulate your weight, and improve your mood.
4: Cut out the “foods” known to be really bad for your health.
These include white sugar, foods containing high-fructose corn syrup, deep fried foods, regular and diet soda, margarine, and other saturated fats, processed meats that contain nitrites and nitrates, and white bread and pasta.
If you could eliminate just one of these unhealthy foods each month, in less than a year you’ll have cleaned up your diet considerably and through these healthy habits you’ll notice how much better you feel.
5: Drink more water.
Our bodies are 70% water. Good hydration enables all our body systems to function optimally. Being just a bit dehydrated will compromise our health and well-being. It’s not difficult to add a few more glasses of water into your daily routine.
6: Lower your alcohol consumption.
The ideal amount of alcohol is one glass of wine per day, and no more than two glasses. This adds the right amount of antioxidants from resveratrol into your diet without compromising your liver.
Excess drinking can cause alcoholic liver disease, pancreatic disease, alcoholic tremor, broken blood vessels on your face, a swollen belly, even confusion and dementia. If you find it impossible to cut back on your drinking, you may need to look at your drinking more seriously.
7: Take time to calm down.
You may not be able to eliminate everything that’s causing you stress, but there are things you can do to help you calm down and feel more peaceful. Try carving out a few minutes each day for yoga, meditation, mindfulness or relaxation exercises; do some journaling, T’ai Chi, walking, or hiking. Some people even find that healthy habits like swimming and biking are calming and centering.
8: Make time to be creative.
Art adds to our general level of well-being. We get a chance to make new things, solve interesting problems and express our thoughts and feelings. It helps us feel engaged, empowered, and relaxed, lowering our level of stress.
Whether it’s writing, drawing, painting, collage, scrap-booking, crafting, singing, playing music, or doing sculpture, creativity is enriching and adds meaning to life. These are all healthy habits we can do with others.
Practicing music every Sunday with your band, for example, is a great new habit to adopt, and much more positive and fulfilling than spending the day watching TV and eating snacks.
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About the Author
Marcia Sirota MD FRCP(C) is a board-certified psychiatrist, that does not ascribe to any one theoretical school. Rather, she has integrated her education and life experiences into a unique approach to the practice of psychotherapy. She considers herself a realist with a healthy measure of optimism. Sign up here for her free monthly wellness newsletter. Listen here to her latest podcast. marciasirotamd.com
