When January 1st comes around many people make a resolution to start a healthy lifestyle, whether it is to lose weight, bulk up, or just ditch junk foods, this time of year brings about a change in people. However, as many may know, it doesn’t always stay that way, and normally around the middle to the end of the month is when people fall back into old patterns.
We are only human, and it does happen. But, whilst that may be okay for us to take a step back a little, extremes can cause a lot more issues down the line, resulting in bad physical health and illnesses that are harder to shake.
In today’s article, I will discuss what a healthy lifestyle is and what we can do to “future proof” our bodies to make our overall health a better one so that when we get older we know that we have done everything we could to adopt healthy habits and a healthy outlook on life.
What is a Healthy Lifestyle?
A healthy lifestyle is not just about being physically fit but taking care of your mental health too. Mental and physical health go hand in hand, when one is affected the other can tag along. Doing a daily physical activity (high or low intensity), applying healthy eating habits, and taking care of your emotional health will go a long way in creating a lifestyle that will support you as you get older.
A balanced diet and physical fitness will provide a lot of benefits for a healthy body, which includes, but is not limited to –
- Promoting a better immune system to fight illnesses
- Lowering the risk of getting a disease
- Helping lower blood pressure
- Better gut health that can boost energy
What Does Future Proofing Your Body Mean?
Basically, to “future proof” your body means to do things immediately that will be beneficial for you and your body in the future. Adapt to new healthy habits now for optimal physical health and reap the rewards when you get older.
One way of looking at it is taking these steps right away, instead of waiting for a time when it will offer you no help, so that you are not opening yourself up to an illness that could have been avoided if you had seen the importance of making healthy choices and focusing on long term health at an earlier stage.
So, how can you start future proofing now to ensure that your body is getting the support it needs, from beginning to exercise, to focusing on your mental well being?
What Steps Can You Take to Future Proof Your Body?
Down below are some tips that you may want to take on board to help with getting you going to make sure that later life is not filled with heart disease and stress.
Healthy Foods
You are what you eat, a well-known saying but incredibly true. If you eat foods that are filled with saturated fats and sugars, you are potentially raising your cholesterol, as well as increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. Healthy fats are the way to go with foods like fish, seeds, nuts, eggs, beans, and so on, which will help give your body energy as well as absorb nutrients, and support cell function.
You should look at making healthy meals as much as possible with whole foods, avoid processed foods and eat fewer calories. Eat the color spectrum of fruits and vegetables, it adds variety to your meals and so your plate is not boring when you eat healthily.
Physical Health
The key to a healthy life is not just eating well, it’s also exercising regularly. Living a sedentary life can have detrimental effects on the body. You must implement regular physical exercise into your routine if you want to add years to your life. To do that, you can seek the help of Dr Timothy Francis Las Vegas, who can work with people of all ages and physical abilities in different settings to help them achieve their health and wellness goals and improve their overall quality of life. The health benefits of consistent physical activity are multiple in numbers, from a reduction in body fat to the prevention of certain diseases, and enhancement of mental health.
Moderate physical activity is essential in day-to-day life to get the heart pumping and the body moving. You can decide what you need to do to keep obesity at bay, whether you want to lift weights to focus on muscle mass, do cardio to slim down, get into functional training to improve your health and sleep with Blackroll, go for a daily walk, add in strength training, or bike places, doing any form of physical fitness will help you future proof your body and promote healthy physical wellbeing.
Reduce Stress
Stress follows us around in life a lot, but you won’t reach optimal health just with a healthy diet and more exercise, you need to focus your efforts on your mental state too. Life will always throw a stressful situation your way, but it is how you handle it that is important.
Stress will affect your body and overall health if you let it take over. It can cause high blood pressure, digestive issues, high levels of cortisol which can retain fat, anxiety, and depression. It also affects your sleeping pattern too. Stress can also cause mental problems such as age regression, where the person reverts to more childlike behavior in order to cope with the stress they are experiencing. You can reduce stress levels by practicing mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and through mental therapies (like age regression therapy).
In addition to that, people who suffer from ADHD or ADD are hit especially hard by stress, so for them, it is important to find ways to reduce it. All of this together is not good for your health and can stop you from reaching that healthy weight as well as cause prolonged brain health issues that can be harder to shake. To cope with this, speak to a medical professional about your stress levels and go over what you could do. You might also want to include Gratitude Practice Tips For ADHD Health in your daily routine if you suffer from the condition. Seek out support from friends and family. Hiding away will only make it worse and cause you to stress about stress.
Focus on Your Sleep
Sleeping is a huge part of a healthy life. Late nights and not enough sleep are not healthy. You should be having at least seven hours of sleep, especially if you are an adult, to help you stay healthy. Full-quality sleep will provide many benefits for you such as focus, reduction in fatigue, as well as the ability to control emotions.
If you are not getting enough sleep, or do not have a regular sleeping pattern, then you will want to speak to some sleep specialists that can help you find the root cause of your issue as well as check out online forums that have people offer up their own ways that they have been able to support a healthier sleep schedule.
Have Regular Health Checks
Checking in with your doctor is important for future proofing your body and staying healthy. They can help you quit smoking, as well as discuss what exercise may be best for you and your body, especially if you already have some ailments you are being treated for.
They can conduct a full physical to see if you are at a healthy weight and suggest some supplements or vitamins that could support your body, which can be essential if you are lacking in certain nutrients. They may ask for a full blood panel test to determine if there are any underlying causes as to why you are having an issue with your weight or health in general.
What Can Happen if You Don’t Take Care of Your Body?
Your body is a machine, it runs well if you take care of it and give it what it needs to function correctly. You don’t do that by eating junk foods, smoking, or neglecting your mental and physical health. Your body will react to what you give it and what you do to it. You can develop breathing issues, illnesses, diseases, a weak immune system, and so on and so forth.
It may seem annoying to hear constantly, but if you do not take care of the thing that keeps you going, you will notice. And small things that you thought weren’t important will knock you down in later life. Higher blood pressure was probably not on your list of things you want to happen in your life, but it will be if you do not start now.
