Let us first of all know what we exactly mean by healthy living. Living in healthy ways or simply adopting and practicing health enhancing habits is healthy living. It is a lot more than just not being sick. Living healthy means having a healthy mind, body and soul.10 Tips for healthy living
It also means being able to make healthy choices with respect to every aspect of life. To me personally, healthy living is an energetic, disease free, active, fit body along with a tension-free mind and a lively heart. And its not a one-day affair but a habit formation system that should stay with us for life which is not just a life but is long, healthy and of good quality. So here are the top ten things you should be doing in order to make your living healthy –
10 Tips for healthy living
- Overcome addictions – By addictions here I mean addictions of alcohol, drugs, smoking and tobacco. And if you are a movie buff, by now those commercials before a film begins would have taught you enough about the ramifications of being an addict. Jokes apart, these kind of addictions worsen the quality as well as longevity of your precious life. So it’s the best if you do now own such habits, while if you do, set out on a de-addiction mission right now.
- Get proper sleep – This is the most ignored and taken for granted part of our daily routine. However, it should not be. An eight to nine of sleep is a must for a healthy body. Sleeping well relaxes your body as well as brain and helps recover from an entire day’s tiredness. In fact, not sleeping enough is one of the prominent causes of weight gain/obesity. It can also result in dark and puffy under-eyes and a faster process of ageing. So sleeping enough and properly are extremely crucial to a healthy life.
- Minimize unhealthy eating– How can you afford to eat unhealthy if you wish to love healthy. Too much of junk food, packed food, fried food and artificial sweets are all forms of unhealthy eating. You can effectively avoid obesity by just staying away from these types of foods.
- Maintain hygiene– There is a famous saying that ‘Hygiene is two-thirds health’. So if you go on with good hygiene habits, it will ward you off from most of the infections and diseases automatically. And when we talk about cleanliness with respect to a healthy living, it has several aspects.
• Personal Hygiene- This is the time to revise lessons we were actually taught in school. Bathing properly, keeping dental cleanliness, washing hands and face everytime before you eat, after you come home and visit restroom, wearing clean clothes, getting a hair-bath regularly, clean or cut nails and so on.
• Hygiene of surroundings- Keeping and having clean surroundings irrespective of whether you are at home, workplace, roads, or anywhere else. Besides cleaning, not spreading filth is another important aspect of hygiene. - Exercise – Nowadays our routines are such that there is little or no physical activity. In such a situation, taking time out especially for working out becomes extremely important. Here we are not expecting you to do intense gym sessions for hours everyday. Rather, exercising for at least 30 minutes each day for about five days in a week is fundamental to a lively and long-living body. These exercises could be as simple as a brisk walk, jogging, some mild exercise or a combination of these.
- Do not overeat– Eat smaller portions and if you feel hungry again after a couple of hours, then again for a small portion or meal or snack. Eating less is vital to a long and healthy life. There are several ways of doing it. May be you could try out using smaller plates and bowls. It will create an illusion that you have eaten as much but actually you would have had a bit less than you usually have.
- Do not ignore medical problems – This is a typical habit of most Indians. We keep on holding-up their medical issues and delaying visits to the doctor. We can prevent lots of diseases from worsening as well as arising if we seek medical advice as soon as the need arises. Taking correct medicines at the time when you require them the most also helps you recover quicker and better.
- Stay close to family and friends – Neither this relates to a healthy diet, nor an exercise session, or medical check-up or anything else of that sort. Then what is the significance of staying connected with family and friends with respect to healthy living? Lonely people, especially those in later years of their life are highly susceptible to depression. Even scientific studies have shown that people who spend good quality time with their close ones are at a lesser risk of cardio problems and depression.
- Eat healthy foods – Eating nourishing foods is undoubtedly imperative to a healthy body and life. Maintain a balance of all nutrients in your diet. Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Rely on home cooked food for most of your meals. Drink lots of water and other fluids. And you can find several other posts on healthy eating and right foods for you on our blog!
- Meditate – Okay! We know that you already have a busy schedule but this one does not require hours. Just ten minutes, sitting in calm and peaceful surroundings. Do this for a few weeks and you will observe tremendous changes in your stamina, behavior, and overall health!