6 Simple Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle
You can start improving your life right now, today! Six of the simplest things you can incorporate in your life are sunshine, clean air, fresh water, sleep, exercise, and most of all— a clean, healthy diet. That’s it. Improving on these six areas can improve anyone’s health.
1. Get Some Sun
While it’s true that you shouldn’t spend all day in the sun, you’re far more likely to get sick from too little sunlight. Moderate exposure to direct sunshine boosts the health of both your mind and body. In addition to enhancing your mental state, exposure to sunlight directly affects the body’s production of melatonin and can promote more restful sleep. Sunlight is also vital to the body’s ability to produce vitamin D, an incredibly important nutrient that supports cardiovascular health, bone health, and the immune system. In fact, sunlight is the best source of vitamin D, as the nutrient is relatively uncommon in food.
Try to get at least 15-30 minutes of direct sunlight every day. If you must use sunscreen, only buy organic, mineral and plant-based varieties.
2. Breathe Clean Air
As the old saying goes, you can survive weeks without food, days without water, but only a few minutes without air. Given its extreme importance, it almost goes without saying that the best air is fresh and clean.
Clean air helps prevent respiratory ailments like asthma or allergies and supplies your body with the oxygen that all living cells need. Breathing dirty air can cause big problems.
3. Stay Hydrated
70% of your body is water, dehydration can negatively affect every process in your body, including bone and tissue regeneration, natural detoxification abilities, immune function—all of it. Even blinking your eyes and the beating of your heart requires water.
How much water do you need? Eight cups a day is the standard recommendation. However, a better guideline is to drink half your body weight in ounces. For instance, if you weigh 150 pounds, drink 75 ounces of water per day. Of course, people’s needs differ based on many factors but you can start with the half-your-weight rule as a base and add water as needed.
4. Get Adequate Rest
Adequate sleep—about 7-8 hours a night for most people—is absolutely necessary for a healthy body and mind. Skipping sleep can lead to poor work performance, car accidents, relationship problems, anger, and depression.Try putting away the smartphone and go to bed. Make your sleeping space as dark as possible. If that’s not feasible, try wearing a sleep mask.
5. Exercise
Exercise is vital to your health and mood. Unequivocally, research shows that your chances of living a long, healthy life are better if you exercise regularly. Even light to moderate exercise can offer tremendous health benefits. Although forty-five minutes to an hour is better for most people, just 30 minutes of moderate activity a few times a week can boost energy levels, help you sleep better, sharpen your mind, and strengthen your defense against illness.
6. Follow a Clean Diet
You may be familiar with the expression, “garbage in, garbage out.” The food you eat is a perfect example of that expression in action. Good nutrition is vital to your health. You can exercise and sleep twice as much as anyone else, but without a clean and balanced diet, you will feel down and fatigued.