The way you live has a massive impact on your health overall. It can either be a boon for your health or a detriment. It isn’t enough to just go to the gym and workout a few times a week to try to undo the damage that you’re doing to your body by the lifestyle you live.
In order to live a long life that you can enjoy to the fullest, it pays off to have your lifestyle be the driver of your health. Otherwise, your twilight years may not be as comfortable or as filled with quality as you would like.
Let your lifestyle be the foundation for a life that is both enjoyable and healthy so you can get the most out of it. In this article, we will go over some of the ways that your lifestyle is affecting your health and what to do about it.
1 – Inactivity
Even if you go to the gym regularly, but don’t do much else with regards to activities or getting out and about, then your lifestyle would still be considered inactive. For instance, many people have a daily routine which is to get up early and hit the gym, then sit in traffic getting to work. At work they are sitting in front of a computer all day until they get back in the car to sit in traffic. They get home, eat dinner and then sit in front of the TV.
As you can see, the gym does not make for an active lifestyle. An inactive lifestyle is responsible for health problems such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and increases the risks of high blood pressure. Those are just the physical problems. There are also mental health issues that come from that lifestyle like anxiety and depression.
Getting active will improve your physical and mental health. You can get more active by doing things like gardening, volunteering and joining a sports club. This gets you moving and gives you some purpose that is much different than using a workout machine or doing nothing every day.
Your living situation can also be leading to your inactivity so it may be a good time to move and instead live in one of the retirement communities in Arizona that promote an overall healthy lifestyle. Many of these communities have a golf course or some other activity built into the complex. And they are usually outside the city and closer to nature so it is easy to get out and do things to stay active.
2 – Your diet
There are so many diets out there right now that it is hard to keep up. The reason that so many are being tried is the fact that people have a hard time sticking to something healthy and end up caught up in a weight loss fad diet.
The way that you eat has a direct bearing on your overall health. Healthy eating habits will stick with you for the rest of your life to keep you from getting a number of illnesses like diabetes, obesity, blood pressure and others. It may not seem like a big deal when we are young to not have much of a diet strategy, but it builds up over time to create bad eating habits that prevent us from living our best life when we are older.
The key is to eat the way that covers all of the bases when it comes to nutrition. One of the best diets in the world is not a diet at all but a way of eating. It’s the Mediterranean diet and the people that eat this way live long, healthy and productive lives. It is not a diet that restricts what you can eat. Rather it is a diet of abundance in how much delicious food that you can eat.
If you stick to a few basic principles from the Mediterranean diet you will have a balanced diet and improved health. Stick with eating mainly vegetable dishes and grains with just a small amount of protein. Doing this will fill you up with so many vitamins and minerals that you will have far fewer trips to the doctor.
3 – Poor sleep habits
If you are the type that believes that there are not enough hours in the day then you probably have some poor sleep habits. Some people neglect sleep because they want to go out and have fun after work. Or, they are busy working late hours so they can feel productive.
No matter the reason, if you are neglecting your sleep then you are setting yourself up for poor health later.
Sleep helps our body repair itself and also to keep hormones balanced. Those that don’t get enough sleep are often stressed out and anxious which contributes to poor mental health as well as physical. The body has cortisol flowing throughout which causes high blood pressure and can even begin the path toward diabetes.
Have a healthy sleep habit that allows you to get at least seven solid hours per night. Shut off all devices at least an hour before bed and set up your room to promote sleep. Using an essential oil diffuser to waft the scent of certain oils that promote sleep is a good way to get started. Scents like chamomile and lavender are known for putting your brain into sleep preparation mode.
Doing some light meditation before bed is also a good way to slow the mind down if you are the type that has racing thoughts just as you go to bed that prevents you from falling right to sleep. Even a nice, warm bath is a great way to relax the muscles and mind so you can fall deeply asleep. Avoid things like caffeine and even alcohol before going to bed.
Conclusion
The best part about changing up your lifestyle is that you will immediately feel better. If you feel like you’re in a bit of a rut then your lifestyle is surely to blame. Enjoy mixing things up while also taking charge of your health.
