The Best Habits to Adopt for a Better & Healthier Life

At the beginning of the year everyone is attempting to quit their old Habits, bellowing out “New Year, New Me” over social media. After doing some research we found that only 4% of people actually stick with their new year’s resolution throughout the entire year and 80% of them give up by March!*

Therefore we thought we would put together a short list of useful tips to help you lead a healthier life. Believe it or not, making small changes to your day-to-day routine can have a massive impact on both your physical and mental wellbeing. Before diving into your resolutions, we wanted to give you a few simple tips to keep you motivated throughout the year.

1. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself and give yourself unrealistic deadlines. They say to make a habit, you need to do something for at least 4-5 days in a row at roughly the same time.

2. Commit to it, make sure it is something that you really want to do. If you put your mind to it, you can achieve your goals!

3. Don’t put yourself down if you make a mistake. Instead of getting aggravated with yourself, treat it as a lesson. Understand what made you stumble to you can try to avoid doing the same in the future.

4. Reward yourself – each time you reach your milestone, treat yourself whether that’s buying yourself something new or going somewhere you’ve always wanted to go.

Once you’re able to complete the habit without having to think about it, it’s time to move onto establishing your next habit.

Now onto the best habits to adopt!

Drinking more water

The first would have to be drinking more water. This is quite a unique “resolution” as people would typically say “eat healthier”. Although eating healthy is equally important, we believe that if you’re not used to leading a healthier lifestyle, this could be much harder to adopt. Therefore, starting small and drinking at least 9 glasses of water per day is a great start.

Drinking more water has a series of amazing health benefits, to name a few…

• • • Relieves Fatigue
    • Improves Mood
    • Treats Headaches and Migraines
    • Helps in Digestion and Constipation
    • Aids Weight Loss
    • Flushes Out Toxins

Having a stable sleeping cycle means the same bedtime and wake up time, even on the weekends. Stick to a Routine. The trick to a healthy sleep cycle is to get into a routine. Make Mornings Bright and Keep the Night Dark. Light tells your body’s clock when it’s time to wake up. At night, dim the lights to cue your body that it’s time for sleep. Set your alarm earlier and earlier each day. Just like you gradually scaled back your bedtime, you should do the same with your wake up time.

Being well-rested helps improve your memory and helps you be more creative!

Researchers at Harvard University and Boston College found that people seem to strengthen the emotional components of a memory during sleep, which may help spur the creative process.

Improve your attention span!

A 2009 study in the journal Pediatrics found that children ages seven and eight who got less than about eight hours of sleep a night were more likely to be hyperactive, inattentive, and impulsive.

Eventually you will notice that your natural body clock will start to take control and you’ll start to wake up a few minutes before your alarm clock.

In fact, hair and nails are mostly made of protein. Your body uses it to build and repair tissue. You need it to make enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals. It is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood.Along with fat and carbohydrates, protein is a “macronutrient,” meaning that the body needs relatively large amounts of it.

Milk is made of two proteins, casein and whey. Whey protein can be separated from the casein in milk or formed as a byproduct of cheese making. Whey protein is considered a complete protein and contains all 9 essential amino acids and is low in lactose content.

Also, cutting out foods which contain high fats and sugars is also great for your overall wellbeing.

This might be an obvious one, but incorporating more vegetables into your meals will also have a series of positive health benefits. If you didn’t know, most vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories. Vegetables are also an important source of many nutrients, including potassium, dietary fibre, folate (folic acid), vitamin A, and vitamin C.

And diets which include more potassium may help to maintain healthy blood pressure.

Working out can be fun, if you know how to do it. If you’re looking for some guidance, visit your local gym, they should offer some type of personal training. Using a personal trainer is great if you’re just starting out and not too sure what exercises are best to achieve the results you desire.

Working out is great for both your physical and mental health, exercise keeps you more focused and is proven to reduce stress. It helps fight anxiety and depression. By working out we do not mean spending 4 hours a night at the gym, we mean going for walks and cycling around the park with friends. Habitual exercise is a great way to ease yourself into moving more, eventually you will feel yourself getting stronger and you will want to push yourself further and further.

Take sometime for yourself, meditation can be performed in many different ways. This is simply down to preference and what works for you.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness, originates from the Buddhist tradition. The Buddhist term sati translates to ‘mindfulness’ and breathes life into the practice. Mindfulness is a great way to overcome suffering and understanding. It is all about acknowledging reality of life by simply letting your mind wander, accepting any thoughts that come up, and understanding the present.

The practice is done by sitting with eyes closed, crossed legs, the back straight, and attention placed on breathing in and out. For the period of meditation the individual focuses on his or her breathing, and when wandering thoughts emerge, one returns to focusing on the object of meditation, breathing. Research has found that a regimen of mindfulness can reduce anxiety, depression, and perceived distress.

There are many different ways to meditate, if you’re new to meditation we would highly recommend applications such as Headspace, available on the Apple App Store.

There’s nothing wrong about enjoying your job or earning money. But always keep in mind that you are here to live life not work your life away. Although working is important, it is also essential to take time for yourself and spend time doing the things you love with the people you care about the most. Go on an adventure, travel the world or just take some time off to appreciate the things you love the most.

* Based on a ComRes Poll by Bupa, November 2016.