It can sometimes feel as though that keeping up with a healthy lifestyle and owning your health is a task that is all but impossible to juggle alongside your daily life. It can be difficult to keep up with the demands of work, healthy eating, exercise, spending time with your family and friends, and other wellness and health routines. Healthy living can be made up all of these things if you want it to, but it doesn’t have to be all about big changes, dramatic lifestyle overhauls, and time-consuming practices. A lot of being healthy is just made up of small things that you can do every day. These different things are usually very simple to do without getting overwhelmed, but when you do these things consistently over time, they can easily add up to brilliant results and a much healthier you.
Here are some easy changes that you can make to lead a healthier, happier you. All of these things are simple tips that can easily be incorporated into your daily life, without taking up all your time.
Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning
Coffee is great, but starting the day with a big glass of water to rehydrate you after sleep is much better for your health. Hydrating first thing after being dehydrated overnight will help your digestion, improve the appearance of your skin, and lift your energy levels.
Take the stairs
Taking the stairs is a low-effort way to fit a little more physical activity into your life on a regular basis. Don’t take the elevator or the escalator and take the stairs inside, whether at work, in your apartment building, or when you’re out shopping. Taking the stairs also strengthens and tones your legs and your core.
Look after your feet
Your feet work hard so you need to take proper care of them. Wear supportive shoes, especially if you’re going to be doing a lot of walking. You only get one pair of feet, so look after them.
Fill half of your plate with vegetables
One of the simplest changes you can make for healthier eating and better portion control is to fill half of your plate with vegetables for every meal. Vegetables are packed with all sorts of very important vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that you need to be healthy and live a long life. Vegetables are rich in fiber, so they will also aid your digestion too and help you to feel fuller for longer.
Track your steps
Using a fitness tracker, like a Fitbit, Apple Watch, or the step counter on your phone to track your steps is an easy way to make sure that you are fitting enough physical activity into your day. You should try to squeeze in around 10,000 steps every day. Doing this can have some major benefits for your mental and physical health. A fitness tracker will also remind you to get in 250 steps every hour, which helps to spread your activity out and keep you moving all day long.
Switch to non-toxic household cleaning products
A lot of the most commonly-used household cleaning products are made with a lot of harmful chemical ingredients that are not very good for your health. These chemicals can exacerbate allergies, and could even be a danger to children and pets. An easy way to reduce your exposure to toxins like this in your home is to make the switch to more natural alternatives for your cleaning products. There are even things in your kitchen cupboards that you can use to clean, like white vinegar.
Use non-toxic skincare and personal care products
Like cleaning products, a lot of skincare and other personal care products are made using some ingredients that aren’t actually very good for the body after continuous use. Swap to non-toxic personal care and beauty products instead. Make sure you understand what you’re taking if you have to take medication or birth control. Even if you order your pill online, read the small print carefully so you know what’s in it and what effect it could have.
Take a probiotic every day
Keeping your gut in good health does a lot of good things for your digestion, skin health, immunity, mental health, and even more. Take a daily probiotic with your morning glass of water to take better care of the health of your gut, which will also improve your overall health too.
Eat proper food
Try to avoid eating overly processed foods and instead try to eat more food that is made with whole food ingredients that you would realistically be able to find in your own kitchen. This rule for choosing food will likely rule out a lot of prepackaged food but it does differ from trying to just eat healthy foods, as a lot of healthy foods are becoming more and more processed. ‘Real’ food should be mostly unprocessed foods, such as a tomato, an apple, a tuna steak, or a potato, as well as some foods that have been processed in a very minimal way from one or only a few real-food ingredients into something else, like yogurt, butter, or olive oil. In very basic terms, you ought to aim to eat foods that could mostly be made in your own kitchen and stay away from foods that can only be made in a lab.
Stand up every 30 minutes while you work
Sitting for long periods is not good for your posture or your health. Cut back on the harmful effects of sitting at a desk for hours every day by standing up and moving around for a minute or two every half an hour. Get up and walk to the kitchen or a colleagues’ desk.
Get sunlight every day
Vitamin D is one of the most important nutrients and sunlight is one of the easiest ways to get more of it. Try to get at least 30 minutes of sun every day, or take a Vitamin D supplement to top you up.
