As the end of the year is nearing, most of us are once again planning our new year’s resolutions. And one of the most common resolutions made every year is to improve one’s health. But how do you exactly improve your health? Is exercising enough? Or eating a healthier diet?
Here is a simple guide on how to improve your health in 2023 and a few tips on how you can stick to it the entire year:
1. Exercise Everyday
Yes, this is nothing new. One of the best ways to improve your health is to exercise every day. A minimum of 20 minutes per day or 150 hours per week is the most ideal exercise duration to achieve significant improvements in your physical health. According to the American Heart Association, the minimum recommended exercise is 150 hours per week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercises.
Aerobic exercises involve cardiovascular activities such as jogging, running, jumping rope, and any kind of exercise that increases the heart rate and respiration. When your cardiovascular health is improved, it helps to prevent heart disease and high blood pressure, improves blood sugar levels, reduces stress, helps your body fight disease, and can even improve your overall mood.
2. Eat Right
Your diet is one of the most important parts of your health and it’s indeed true that you are what you eat. Avoid processed food as much as you can and eat more fruits, vegetables, and healthy protein.
Avoid red meat as well, and replace them with whole grains that can give you equal amounts of protein but without harmful effects. Once you reduce your red meat consumption, you will enjoy the following benefits: lower cholesterol levels, and reduced risk of chronic disease, as well as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, and cancer.
A diet that’s plant-based and low-carb is the Mediterranean diet, which consists of a balanced mix of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, fish, whole grains, healthy fats, and natural spices.
3. Get Enough Sleep
Society’s admiration for the hustle generation has become detrimental. More and more people are giving importance to the hustle culture of working all the time which has led to increased levels of generational stress. One of the major aspects of health affected by this hustle culture is sleep, which can cause dangerous health consequences with long-term sleep deprivation.
Adults need at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night to stay healthy. Getting enough sleep improves your immune system, helps your body heal better, improves your brain performance, and helps you fight disease better, especially when it comes to viruses.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, sleep became a big factor when it came to battling the virus as people with weakened immune systems due to stress were more likely to get infected and experience symptoms.
4. Improve Your Mental Health
Most people believe that when it comes to discussions about health, it’s all about physical health. What most people misunderstand is that mental health is just as important. If you have a healthy body but your emotions are all over the place, you are having symptoms of depression, and you’re always in a bad mood, then you don’t have overall health and well-being.
To improve your mental health, seek help when you need to, and even when you don’t. You can try therapy even if you’re not having any issues or problems in your mental health. Simple ways to improve your mental health include having a gratitude journal, meditating, doing hobbies that you enjoy doing in your spare time, spending time with family and friends, and simply enjoying and experiencing the best of what life has to offer.
The formula for improving our health in 2023 is exercise + eating right + sleeping well + improved mental health. This may seem like a simple formula but it takes dedication to ensure that you give these solutions the time, energy, and commitment they require to experience significant results.
Tips on Staying On Track
Creating a plan to improve your health in 2023 can be easy but starting and maintaining it is the most challenging part. How do you keep your resolution and maintain your desire to genuinely improve your overall health? Here are some tips:
- Be Specific
Make your plan specific. What kind of exercise do you plan on doing and for how many minutes? What food should you throw out? Create a meal plan to eat better. Create a sleep routine and make sure you get enough sleep. Enroll in a pottery or cooking class for a new hobby. The more specific your plans are, the better it is for you to follow through.
- Monitor Your Activities
Did you indulge in a dinner buffet this week? Maybe you should add more minutes to your exercise or have an exclusively plant-based diet the next week. Monitoring your activities helps you compensate for times when you missed or skipped your plan, as well as giving you the motivation that you’re almost reaching your goals.
- Reward Yourself
Once you reach a milestone, reward yourself. Treat yourself to a pizza dinner, eat a chocolate bar, go to a spa, and simply celebrate accomplishing a milestone in your plan on improving your health.
The earlier you start taking care of your health, the better. When you take the time to take care of yourself, you are giving yourself the gift of life. You’re not only improving yourself, but you’ll be improving the lives of the people in your life, as well. Having more energy, becoming free of disease, and being overall healthier will help you become more productive at work and can help you give more time and energy to spend with your loved ones.