10 Healthy Habits to Adopt a Healthier Lifestyle
It’s that time of year again when everyone is focused on improving their health.
But adopting healthy habits shouldn’t only be for the beginning of the year.
Living a healthy lifestyle is all about making changes and forming habits and routines that you can practice throughout your life.
Here are 10 healthy habits you can adopt this year to improve your health and well-being.
1. Prioritize Sleep
It can be so easy to get swept up in the latest show on Netflix or stay out late with friends every day, but regularly getting less than 7 hours of sleep can start to affect your health.
Not getting enough sleep is linked to weight gain, depression, heart disease, and diabetes.
Getting 7+ hours of sleep daily is recommended to help your body’s metabolism, memory, mood, and immune system.
Prioritizing sleep is a simple way to improve your health today.
2. Ditch Diet Culture
With so much noise everywhere about weight loss being the only way to improve your health, it can feel overwhelming to know what to focus on nutrition, exercise, or your mindset.
If you have struggled with dieting, I recommend unlearning that “all-or-nothing dieting mindset” that is all around us.
You don’t have to restrict foods and feel miserable eating or exercise like crazy to earn your meals. A healthy lifestyle is all about finding a balance between nutrition and exercise that is doable for you long-term and makes you feel great.
3. Stay Hydrated
Getting enough fluids every day is underrated and can cause symptoms like headaches that you can easily overlook.
Recent studies show that adults who practice good hydration are linked to fewer chronic diseases and live longer. Who wouldn’t want that?
Yes, you will have to use the bathroom more often. Still, staying hydrated will support your digestion, kidney’s ability to flush out toxins, and many more functions your body does daily.
4. Create Regular Meal Times
Creating a routine of when you will have meal times can help let your body know when to expect food or more energy.
Our body can adapt to our schedule, and regularly sticking to similar meal times can help us get in tune with our natural hunger and fullness cues.
Your meal timing is unique to you. Explore what works best for you and stick to a routine to have constant energy and stable blood sugars all day.
5. Plan Meals Ahead
There is nothing worse than not knowing what to eat.
Take time at the beginning of your week to think of food options you will enjoy eating to set yourself up to prioritize nutritious meals. It doesn’t have to be perfect but make it a positive habit to adopt.
A simple meal planning routine can help you avoid constantly buying take-out meals that can impact your health and finances.
6. Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables
Seriously, this habit is something everyone can work on, including me.
Research shows that only 1 in 10 adults gets enough fruits and vegetables!
Benefits of eating fruits and vegetables:
- Increases fiber intake to help maintain a healthy weight and digestion
- Provide essential vitamins and minerals our body needs, like potassium
- Helps prevent diseases like heart disease and diabetes
Aim to include at least 2 servings of fruits or vegetables in your meals to make them complete and well-balanced. Grab my free guide to help you create balanced meals.
7. Stay Active
Being physically fit can not only improve our health but also helps improve our confidence and self-esteem and help us de-stress, which is why I love sports so much.
Your fitness routine can change throughout the year from structured to less structured. Strength training and HITT workouts are not the only ways to exercise.
What matters is that you are staying consistent in moving regularly with any exercise you enjoy. The CDC recommends 150 minutes of physical activity per week. That’s only 2.5 hours!
8. Prioritize Your Mental Health
Everyone feels stress or anxiety throughout their lives, and learning to cope with these negative feelings is essential to our overall health.
This year explore healthier ways to cope with negative emotions that are positive for your health.
Positive Coping Strategies:
- Exercise
- Therapy
- Writing
- Guided meditation
- Talking to a friend
- Listening to music
- Painting
Practicing unhealthy habits like excessively drinking alcohol, using drugs, and overeating food to comfort ourselves is not solving the causes of our feelings and negatively impacts our health in the long run.
9. Learn From Your Setbacks
It is normal to fall out of routines and not meet the health goals you set for yourself from time to time.
Having setbacks is part of life. Learn from them and keep moving forward.
Everyone has the potential to live a healthy lifestyle, and your path will be different from everyone else.
Stay in your lane. Don’t compare yourself to others, and keep going!
10. Get Support
When I was younger, I thought I had to accomplish my goals on my own to feel proud of myself.
I learned the hard way that getting support from others, whether from a professional or your community of friends and family, makes reaching your goals easier and increases motivation and consistency.
Get into the habit of seeking others for support when you need it. Asking for help can be as simple as finding a friend to work out with or joining a class or program of like-minded people.
Summary
Adopting these 10 simple habits into your lifestyle can help you maintain a healthy body and mind, so you feel and look your best.
Don’t try to do all of them at once. Start with one, master it and build off of them until you feel comfortable and in control of your health.
Which habits are you working on this year? Feel free to message me on Instagram and share your goals with me!