What Is A Healthy Lifestyle?

This is not about eating vegetables all day and avoiding carbs as much as possible. A healthy lifestyle requires attention in various facets of your life, including your mind, body, perspective, habits, and balance which gets better through practice.

Nurture your thoughts

The very first place to begin developing a healthier lifestyle is with your thoughts. Your mind is perhaps the most powerful tool in your arsenal, it will help you shape your mood for the day, your positivity, and perspective on everything coming your way. Although the research is not definitive, there are studies indicating positive correlations between positive thoughts and a healthy response to inflammation caused by stress. Just as a garden requires constant attention and nurturing care for it to grow, your thoughts likewise need consistent attention for your positivity and dreams to blossom.

Nurturing can look different every day, but it is important to start small by telling yourself you are great, giving yourself credit for the things you have already accomplished, and further appreciating your efforts regardless how small or big they have been. After that you must be consistent with thinking positively, by looking at the glass as half full, because every day is different, and you will encounter different battles in many areas of your life. A difficult work day can influence your mood which will then negatively impact your personal relationships, friends, and even your joy or appetite without realizing it was related to an earlier experience.

Just as negativity can subconsciously impact other areas of your life, maintaining a positive outlook and consistent self-nurture will also help you prosper in those same areas.

Habits

It takes approximately 21 days to make or break a habit. Habits are great, because these are actions you undertake without spending much effort or mental capacity, they are almost automatic without you even realizing. Start with smaller habits, such as getting out of bed by your first alarm or first alarm snooze, brushing your teeth before bed, cutting back on sweets regularly, getting in some physical movement or exercise at least 3-4 times a week etc.

Habits are something that you can train yourself to do with time and consistency. This is essential to a healthier lifestyle because this is how you can make sure you hold yourself accountable with cutting out unhealthy habits and fostering new ones that will help keep you on track with your goals.

Physical Exercise and your Body

Yes, physical exercise and eating better foods does help tremendously with developing a healthier lifestyle, but for more reasons than you might think. There are countless studies underlining how better foods and exercise can actually improve your mood and also help manage stress and anxiety. Whether the stress is derived from work, school, personal relationships or everything in between, getting just thirty minutes worth of exercise a few times a week can drastically improve several areas of your life. More recent research has encouraged psychologists to update their treatment measures by incorporating more physical exercise due to the positive relationship between exercise and mental health.

There is a host of studies highlighting how physical exercise stimulates parts of the brain responsible for monitoring your mood as well as your happy hormones. It does not stop there, physical exercise also gives your body the ability to manage stress and anxiety better through managing the release and your body’s response to stressful events.

By better foods we mean more vegetables and fruits, especially because they are full of vitamins, minerals, and oxidants which are vital to a healthy mind. Certain ingredients common in different foods, such as refined sugars, have been associated with higher risks with obesity and chronic illnesses. Whereas vegetables, fruits, coffee, and even nuts have illustrated notable contributions to improving memory, cognitive ability, and overall healthier brain functions. Just as other foods, these brain power foods can be incorporated into any diet with moderation and they can be consumed in different ways depending on your style of eating or work/life schedule. It can be overwhelming to think about all the ways you can incorporate more vegetables into your meals, so here is a list of 17 ways you can start with.

Your exercise does not need to be olympic either, you are completely fine with going outside for a walk, bicycling, going for a light jog, or even engaging dancing videos at home as long as you raise your heart rate and get your blood pumping you are on the right track.

These improvements will further bolster your self-confidence, which is a tremendous help whenever you are preparing to engage in a new venture or project where you will encounter self doubt and criticism.

Balance

As with everything else in life, you need to find a balance. All these things can be incredibly useful in developing a healthier lifestyle in your endeavor to tackle any obstacle along your journey, but you must be consistent in your approach. Practice is essential and there will be days where you are not as enthusiastic about practicing some of these things ,but remember the bigger picture. This is for your life, your ability to manage stress and anxiety, and your ability to conquer your journey.

Whether you are in college, working several jobs, raising a family, becoming your own boss, or all the above, a healthier lifestyle will promote a healthier version of yourself. And, if you can succeed in becoming a better version of yourself today compared to who you were yesterday, then frankly you have already succeeded for the day.