If you want to improve or maintain your overall health, there are three things you need to prioritize: diet, sleep, and exercise. Each of these factors impacts your physical and mental health, so in order to feel your best, you need to focus on all three areas. Learn what you need to do to get healthy and stay that way.
Get Enough Sleep
Ongoing sleep deficiency has been linked to physical conditions such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and high blood pressure. Lack of sleep also affects how clearly you think, so if you find that you’re having difficulty focusing throughout the day, you might need to get more sleep at night. Basically, getting enough sleep is a lot more important than most people think.
Even tiny things can affect the quality of sleep you get each night. To ensure you get enough rest, you should follow a nighttime routine. Routines prepare your body and mind for sleep so it’s easier for you to relax. It’s important to go to bed around the same time each night, sleep on a supportive, comfortable mattress, and keep your bedroom dark and quiet. Eliminating factors such as excess noise and light at night help you fall into the deep, restful sleep that’s needed for your body and mind to refresh.
Maintain a Balanced Diet
Improving and maintaining your health doesn’t require you to go on an insanely restricted diet. In fact, it’s often better for your health to indulge in moderation. Keep in mind, everything you put into your body has an effect on your physical and mental health. For example, overloading on carbs often makes people feel tired and sluggish while eating a meal filled with protein and veggies typically gives you energy and clears your mind. Pay attention to the way your body and mind react to specific types of food and slowly eliminate anything that affects you in a negative way.
Also, if you’re concerned about your weight, pay attention to the number of times you eat each day and your portion size. It’s typically better for you to eat several small meals per day than it is to eat one or two large ones.
Exercise Regularly
You don’t need to go to the gym daily to get enough exercise, but you maintaining decent levels of activity is important. At the very least, you should be taking walks three times per week. Cardio exercise is extremely important to maintain a healthy heart. Strengthening exercises improve muscle strength, which in turn, helps your muscles burn more calories.
Regular exercise is also important to your mental health. In fact, taking an afternoon walk is a great way to clear your mind so it’s easier for you to refocus on work after lunch. Additionally, people who exercise on a regular basis are more likely to experience a high quality of sleep each night. Keep in mind, before you begin any type of exercise program, it’s important to consult with your doctor.
Ultimately, improving and maintaining your physical and mental health comes down to eating right, exercising on regular basis, and getting enough sleep every night. However, making too many changes at once can be difficult. To ensure you stick to a new sleeping, eating, and exercise routine, make small changes every few weeks instead of changing everything you normally do all at once.