The 8 Habits of Healthy Living

“If you have health, you probably will be happy, and if you have health and happiness, you have the wealth you need, even if it is not all you want.”

Elbert Hubbard

Everyone want to live long, happy, healthy and successful lives. But unfortunately, in our pursuit of success we often take shortcuts with our health—and end up suffering from various illnesses that we could have avoided.

While there is an abundance of ways to ensure your ongoing health, the key to a longer life lies mainly in preventing illness. 

There are some things that can’t be controlled (your age, family history of diseases, gender). But others can. And those things aren’t a huge surprise — you already know not to smoke, drink too much, or eat unhealthy foods.

It’s interesting, though, how all of the major diseases are caused by the same things: smoking, diet, exercise, alcohol and stress.

So, let me share below some habits you can start doing that will help you become the healthiest version of yourself and a simple method for changing them.

The 8 Habits of Healthy Living

Regular Exercise

Regular exercise will help reverse the symptoms and improve your mood.  During exercise, the body releases chemicals called endorphins which interact with receptors in the brain to causing euphoric feelings and reduction in physical pain. You don’t need me to tell you to exercise, but listen to this: lack of exercise is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, colon & rectal cancers, diabetes, breast cancer, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. If you don’t exercise, you’re just asking to get a major disease. It’s almost a magic pill: do a bit of exercise every day, and you get healthy. You don’t need much — start with 5 minutes a day in the morning.

Drink alcohol in moderation

Drinking more than a moderate amount of alcohol can put you at risk for personal and health problems, including alcohol use disorder.  Too much alcohol can increases your risk for many health problems, including serious conditions that can lead to death. 

A moderate amount of alcohol means:

• 1 drink or less in a day for women
• 2 drinks or less in a day for men

Keep in mind that drinking less is always healthier than drinking more. Even moderate drinking can have health risks.

Sleep

Getting higher quality sleep and practicing better sleep hygiene leads to increased mental focus and concentration. It is also associated with the consumption of fewer calories. Sleep helps our body repair itself. It is important for our physical and mental health. If you regularly don’t get enough sleep, you might experience some of the following;

• depression and anxiety
• tension headaches and mirgranes
• memory problem
• dizziness
• short temper

To help you sleep better, try listening to relaxing music before bed at a low volume. It could help to slow your brain and body down.

Stop Smoking

This is by far the most important habit, as it affects almost every single one of the leading causes of death. It’s also the hardest of these habits to change. It’s not at all impossible. Stopping smoking is one of the best things you will ever do for your health. Quitting is much easier when you get the right support and there are lots of options out there to choose from. Even if you’ve tried before, you can still succeed.

The benefit of quitting smoking improves your physical health and boosts your mental health and wellbeing – and your loved ones will benefit too.

Reduce Stress

Stress is a risk factor for heart disease and high blood pressure, which is itself a risk factor for stroke. Simplify your workloads  so that you’re not overly stressed, and exercise to relieve stress. Maintaining a regular (healthy, non-obsessive)  exercise routine has been proven to reduce stress, improve mood, enhance self-esteem, and increase energy levels.

Lose Weight

Ok, let’s make it simple, your weight is a balancing act, but the equation is simple: If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. And if you eat fewer calories and burn more calories through physical activity, you lose weight. If you’re overweight, this is not exactly a habit — the best habit to form to lose weight is to eat less.  Obesity is a serious health concern that increases the risk of many other health conditions; such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, some types of cancers, such as breast cancer and bowel cancer and stroke.

Living with overweight and obesity can also affect your quality of life and contribute to mental health problems, such as depression and can also affect self-esteem.

Eat Healthy Diet

We all know eating healthy is good and following a healthy, balanced diet helps make sure that our bodies get all the nutrients needed to work well from day to day and can also reduce the risk of diseases like heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer in the longer term.

A healthy diet includes the following: fruit, vegs, legumes (e.g. lentils and beans), nuts, seeds, whole grains and a variety of protein foods such as seafood, lean meats and poultry and eggs.

Eating healthy diet reduces your risk of several leading diseases, and it’s one of the easiest habits to form.

Increase Your Water Intake

Drinking plenty of water can do so many good things for you. It helps remove toxins from your body and replenishes fluids lost through sweat and urine and it may also help you lose weight. Another reason to go for H2O? Sugary drinks are linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes. If you aren’t a fan of plain water, add flavour with slices of orange, lemon, lime, watermelon, or cucumber.

Drink 8 glasses of water a day, as recommended by doctors, to stay hydrated and keep your body and joints functioning well.

How to form a habit

We’re all creatures of habit. We usually wake up at the same time each day, brush our teeth, have morning coffee or breakfast, and commute to work or work from home, following the same patterns every day.

So why is it so hard to form new healthy habits?

Living a healthy lifestyle can seem hard if it is a new change for you. The list above might seem like a lot to change, but it is completely attainable to live a healthier life. You can succeed if you really want to make a change in your life. I did it, and so can you. Identify a habit you can do, something that will fit into your life and can be completed on a daily basis, even when you don’t feel like it. I changed one habit at a time, slowly, in smaller steps, and it wasn’t hard. Don’t try to change everything, and don’t make it hard on yourself. It’s actually easy if you take action and be patient with yourself.

Here’s how to change these habits:

• Change only one habit at a time. It doesn’t matter which habit you choose. Just choose one and start.
• Create positive habits you enjoy. Read the last word again — if you enjoy it, the habit change will be easy. Replace smoking with positive habits you enjoy that fulfil the needs that smoking now fulfils (stress reduction, boredom relief, etc.). Replace junk foods with healthy foods you enjoy.
• Start as small as possible. Just do 5 minutes workout the first week, and try to be consistent as possible. Then do 10 minutes. Small change is by far the most effective method I’ve used for changing habits. Slow change lasts!
• Make it social. Find a partner or group to hold you accountable, so you’re more likely to stick with it.

Healthy living isn’t impossible, or even especially difficult. It’s just slower to come by than most people care for. It’s not about willpower. Good habits happen when we set ourselves up for success. The key to healthy living is to take your healthy life journey one step at a time!