Healthy lifestyle guide: 8 steps to living well
A healthy lifestyle is not an easy thing to discuss — it’s no wonder that there are many discussions in the health world about what it really is.
The world doesn’t stop! We are in the information age, where fashion is hyper productivity. As a result, the 24 hours a day needed to become more profitable, after all, we do a lot and have little time to perform our functions , needing to make everything more practical around these activities.
Therefore, today we are going to share with you a little of our vision based on the theory and practice of a healthier life.
Stay with us!
What does it mean to have a healthy lifestyle?
If you’ve never heard about it, I’d like to introduce you to an increasingly discussed term: healthiness .
This word indicates the quality and appropriateness of what is healthy , leading us to investigate and analyze how beneficial a habit is for our lives. That’s what we believe around here!
A healthy lifestyle involves more than eating nutrients and exercising consistently. This conception of life addresses the balance between mind and body , with:
- healthy food — rich in nutrients, but that takes into account the small cultural and upbringing traits of that individual, as well as the environment in which he operates;
- training aimed at your goals — individualized and that respects your limitations, being appropriate in your daily life;
- good sleep – in quantity and quality, valuing rest;
- pleasant and active social relationship – because we are not individual beings;
- mental health in constant maintenance – so that the body executes what the mind makes possible.
We all have different histories and paths, which need to be taken into account so that, in the era of immediacy, the healthy lifestyle is really appropriate and humanized. Therefore, we will address some points in particular below.
How to develop healthy habits?
Habit is our brain’s main way of “saving storage”. When you wake up, it is no longer necessary to wait, calculate the force to lift your torso, rotate your legs out of bed, measure the distance between your feet and the floor, step on the floor, in addition to thinking about the force to resist gravity and keep your body upright.
Today, after doing this activity several times and watching others do it the same way, everything has become automatic . That is, the path to carrying out the activity has been shortened and you no longer need to think that you need to get out of bed to get up. The same happens when driving a car, brushing your teeth, lifting cutlery, among many other activities.
With that, we know that – regardless of what you do – if you persist in that activity, your behavior will be ingrained and programmed in your brain. So, using this to achieve a healthier lifestyle and accomplishing it without having to constantly ponder decisions is quite a way to introduce it into your life.
Goals or systems?
Setting a goal and focusing on achieving it is what is usually preached by people out there. However, have you ever stopped to think about this approach? It is not wrong, but probably incomplete.
When formulating a goal, we dictate the direction we want to go. However, by focusing on it, we only aim at the result and forget about the small daily steps we need to take to reach our goals along the way, and without stopping having the attitudes we had to achieve a healthy lifestyle in the past, before even find it.
For that, we need to establish systems. The long term or, better put, intermittent, is in the habit of performing that act regardless of what is expected. From goal to goal, we grow at a constant rate. In perpetuating attitudes, we grow exponentially, so establish a system and focus on the process, not directly on the result!
“True long-term thinking is goalless thinking. This is not a single achievement, but a cycle of refinement and continual improvement.”
- James Clear – Atomic Habits
Create a plan for Healthy lifestyle
By creating a system for a healthy lifestyle and replicating it daily, it is necessary to structure a plan so that you can refine your actions with purpose and to remember why you do exactly what you do and the way you do it. With that, think:
- What would you like to achieve?
- How can you reach this goal?
- What investment is needed for this to happen?
- What environment are you in? Is it consistent with what you want?
- Are you what you want to accomplish?
- Analyze your development.
By structuring the result sought, you provide a direction for your journey , in which the steps of the path need to be taken, repeated and improved over the kilometers, and also learning from mistakes.
So, before you go into the process, understand that you’re not working at it to become someone you want to be, but that you already are that person—this keeps you accomplishing what you need to.
Remember it’s not about being the fastest, it’s about being the one that runs the longest.
At your pace and always
Do not pressure yourself to change your life quickly, nor make decisions in favor of momentary results without the need to do so. The secret is in the long run , because it differentiates you from who you were to who you become. Don’t forget: small steps, always!
Thus, constancy requires discipline, however, for the habit to exist and be continuous, you need to make it pleasant for your world, practical, simple and executable.
It’s like having a new eating routine (diet) and needing breaks (“garbage day”) to keep doing what you do. The habit needs a reward, so if you need a break, doing what you do is not rewarding.
The payoff is avoiding it for a set amount of time—which can often become indeterminate—which, in the long run, is likely to generate an outflow of activity. However, if the reward is linked to the process, remaining in the activity is practically certain, as it is good for your quality of life.
8 steps to a healthier life
To have more health, we need to exercise certain attitudes that promote it. These are some ways and some habits to improve your quality of life .
Have good hydration
Hydration is essential to life! We need water for all body processes to exist — think, transport substances, process nutrients, move around, among many others).
Therefore, keeping the water bottle in sight, ingesting it in short periods of time and drinking it regardless of the feeling of dehydration being present, is of paramount importance.
practice physical exercises
Exercises promote more disposition and well-being , in addition, they release substances that play an active role in improving the health of our cells. In this way, practicing them is extremely relevant for a healthier lifestyle, not least because physical exercise transforms other areas of our life that require discipline as similar as its own.
One tip is to start with what you like and, above all, find a group with whom you share experiences – training or life. Thus, retention will be much greater, since human beings need to share.
It’s worth remembering that you don’t need to train every day for 2 hours, but do this activity consistently — so always practice, whether in a gym, park or at home .
sleep with quality
Sleep is the least unraveled science of the human body as we do not fully know about its mechanisms, total actions and all its varieties. However, what little we do know indicates how important it is for the proper functioning of human machinery .
Therefore, sleeping in quantity (around 8 hours a day) and quality are important factors for a good night’s sleep, and when we talk about quality we mean sleep:
- uninterrupted;
- with a suitable temperature;
- dark environment;
- including the last meal eaten.
With that, keeping a fixed schedule routine and carrying out practices to make that night more effective, also acts to make this habit come true and better modulates your general well-being, as well as regulates the biological clock.
Invest in your leisure
Leisure comes from “licere” which means what is allowed, in which the individual surrenders willingly.
Thus, investing in this issue is fundamental for healthy habits to become pleasurable and, therefore, to be your own leisure and promoter of your happiness. So it really becomes your lifestyle.
Try to have a healthy diet
In your day to day, add foods rich in vitamins and minerals , diversify them and divide your meals.
Also try to eat more often, but have a period without eating any food. Add good sources of protein during these times, balance your intake of carbohydrates and fats, in addition to ensuring a good amount of fiber in your routine.
Also, eat the ideal for your body to function efficiently and balance what types of meals you have, as some may be too caloric and offer few vitamins and minerals, however, they may have high sentimental value due to the ties involved in that situation.
Remember: eating is quality, quantity, culture and society. Feeding is one of the common activities, regardless of your language, age or gender, that promote bonding.
Get regular medical checkups
Checking frequently how your body is functioning is relevant to a healthier lifestyle.
Medical exams can bring important notes that influence your daily behavior and, therefore, your lifestyle. They are essential health indicators, however, they do not purely indicate one’s state of health.
Invest in your mental health
The mind controls the body and its good performance impacts on the rest of the organism. As you are the command center, investing in your mental health can take you to another level, since building healthy habits depends on how you, with your conscience, work to automate these situations and make them less demanding.
Going to a psychologist, following a certain belief, talking about your problems, working on your self-efficacy, meditating and looking “inside” yourself are ways to be careful with how your head works. A good mind makes a good body possible!
Practice meditation for Healthy lifestyle
Meditating is an action that involves breathing techniques, aimed at the cardiovascular and cerebral system. By stimulating a parasympathetic state — that is, inhibition of agitation and adrenaline —, it results in relaxation, control and calmness of the organism, increasing the perception of the present and the modulation of thoughts.
This practice has been increasingly studied by scientists in an attempt to understand its mechanisms and contributions to overall health.
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