5 Things You Can Do to Maintain Your Health

16.06.2020 WELLNESS 0.0 0

maintain your health

With the trials and tribulations of modern daily life, taking extra care of our health has become more of a priority. However, the problem lies in the fact that though everyone wants to be fit and healthy, very few make efforts to take those extra steps in that direction. It is also true that people usually tend to forget that secret to maintaining good health lies in the small changes that we make to our lifestyle.

You don't need to join the gym or give up carbs altogether to stay healthy, and you certainly don't have to skip meals to maintain proper body weight. What you do need is to maintain a healthy diet, get regular exercise, and a few more things that will be discussed here today.

Without any more delay, here's bringing you the five things you can do to maintain your health.

Hydration Is the Key

The first commandment of good health is to drink lots of water and keep yourself hydrated all the time. Drink enough water throughout the day because our body keeps losing it in the form of sweat and urine.

Besides, water also performs the following five crucial functions in our body:

Flushing bacteria out of the bladders
Aiding in your digestion
Carrying oxygen and nutrients to the cells
Maintain sodium balance in the body
Preventing constipation

A person needs to have at least three to four liters of water each day to replenish the water lost by the body. The water intake should be even higher if you go to the gym regularly or are an athlete because your body loses more water than usual.

Eat Healthy

The body also needs a constant supply of vitamins and minerals to keep itself healthy. A diet rich in vegetables, fruits and whole grains helps your body get its much-needed minerals and vitamins. Don't forget to include lots of brightly colored fruits and veggies in your daily diet, like leafy greens, purple berries, red tomatoes, and oranges. These are rich in antioxidants that improve your body's ability to fight disease-causing free radicals.

Having a balanced diet is the key to maintaining good health, and so giving up entirely on carbohydrates or fats is not the solution. You need enough legumes, lentils, meat, dairy products, and milk, along with ample fruits and veggies.

Choose oats, millets, brown rice, fish, lean meat (and not red meat), yogurt, and low-fat milk. Do not stop eating grains altogether, but rather switch to whole grains instead of white rice and refined flour, which are low in nutrients. Whole grains filled with nutrients and fibers will also keep you satiated and full for a long time. Choose carbohydrates with a low glycemic index.

Stay away from packaged or processed food as much as possible as they usually have lots of additives and preservatives to increase their shelf life. Some of these preservatives can have detrimental effects on your health. They also have high levels of sodium and sugar that increase lifestyle diseases like obesity, blood pressure, and diabetes. When it comes to eating anything, your mantra should be to always go for the freshest offerings.

Avoid Smoking and Drinking

Tobacco can lead to heart and lung diseases. Chronic smoking can cause COPD, as well as emphysema. If you don’t quit smoking, you can have throat or lung cancer as well. Thus, saying no to smoking is crucial for good health.

Too much alcohol is harmful to health as it might lead to cancer of the liver, pancreas, and sometimes throat too. 5 ounces of wine or 15 ounces of beer - you can have anyone in a day. If you are fond of liquor, then don't go beyond 1.5 ounces.

Stress Management

Only a fit and healthy body doesn’t not indicate good health. Your mental health should be good too. Depression, anxiety, stress can lead to poor health. Thus, you have to know the secrets of stress management. Indulge in yoga as well as meditation every day to keep stress at bay. Be it morning or night, spend some time with yourself.

Do the things you love, like reading, traveling, listening to good music, painting, swimming, or dancing. Have a good chat with your family. All these things will release more happy hormones or endorphins in the brains. Also, to avert stress post-retirement life, one can take colonial penn life insurance for seniors and live a tension free life.

Do Not Skip Daily Exercises

With all the pressure you have to handle daily while managing office and home together, hardly any time is left to hit the gym at the end of the day. The good news is that you don't need a gym to stay healthy. You need to have a daily exercise routine with walking or freehand exercising, and you are good to go. Just commit yourself to spend at least half an hour to one hour daily, or at least six days a week, doing some form of exercise.

You can take a brisk walk early in the morning or take up yoga. The activity you choose depends upon your convenience or comfort level. The only thing is to make sure you don't skip out on your daily exercise schedule.

Bottom Line

Moving towards a healthier lifestyle is not rocket science. All you need to do is to incorporate the suggestions mentioned here into your everyday schedule. Just keep in mind that all these have to be incorporated at once to get the best results. You can't expect to eat a salad one day, skip exercising for a week, and think you've done enough. These changes are to be embraced for the long term to make your body feel fit and fine.