Let’s face it, we are not in our 20s anymore.
Long gone are the days where we could survive on Berocca and 4 hours sleep, with leftover pizza for breakfast and nothing more than a fleeting commitment to personal hygiene.
Now, as responsible adults, we have to get our act in order. There are people who rely on us, commitments we have to meet, and a whole lot more of our life to live.
For this reason, to help us live our best lives, it’s worth regularly taking stock of our daily habits, and lifestyle choices, and making necessary adjustments as and when they are needed. Lifestyle Changes You Never Realize need to change
With this in mind, here are 9 lifestyle changes you never realised you needed. Adopt these, and you will start to become even better versions of yourself.
If there is one small lifestyle change you need to make, then it is to drink more water.
Our bodies comprise 60% water. Regularly drinking water helps to keep it in good working order by supporting necessary bodily functions like temperature regulation, digestion and metabolism.
Research varies as to what the optimum level of water is to drink every day, but a good rule of thumb is 2 litres for women and around 2.5 litres for men.
Smoking is very bad for you. So, if you still smoke then make quitting a priority.
Not only will it save you a ton of money – a pack a day smoker in the USA spends almost $3000 per year on the habit – it will also seriously improve your health too.
Currently over 16 million people in America are suffering from a disease caused by smoking.
This includes the likes of cancer, lung and heart disease, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes. As well as an increased risk of tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis, certain eye disease conditions, and issues with their immune system.
Do yourself, and your loved ones a favour, and don’t become one of them. Lifestyle Changes You Never Realize need to change
As you get older, what you put into your body becomes increasingly more important. For this reason, it is important you eat good food in the form of a balanced diet.
You might love a big mac, or a box of the colonel’s finest chicken, but eating too much of it can have serious consequences for your body.
Not only do you risk obesity. Regularly eating processed foods with poor nutritional value can also give you high cholesterol, high blood pressure, a greater risk of some cancers, heart disease and strokes, type-2 diabetes and even osteoporosis.
Eating a balanced diet, of three meals a day, that incorporates the five food groups of fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, and dairy is the best way to avoid this.
If you aren’t the best of cooks, eating out doesn’t have to be unhealthy – plus, you can always engage private chefs like those at Gathar to prepare healthy meals for you.
As much as you may love the taste of beer and soft drinks, there comes a time for health reasons when you must reconsider the amount you have.
Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to increased risk of liver diseases and cancer, as well as depression and even violence. While regularly drinking soft drinks has been shown to cause kidney damage or obesity.
We are not saying cut it out completely (although that would be good!) but rather cut down. So, if you currently drink them every day, try only having them at the weekend, and then just in moderation.
Instead drink tea, which is full of antioxidants, or water, which as previously mentioned has plenty of health benefits of its own.
Sleep is very important to your overall health and well-being, with most experts recommending adults get between 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night.
The consequences of not doing so can be quite serious and include higher blood pressure and increased risk of diabetes, obesity, heart attack or failure and stroke. In addition, it can also cause depression, a lower sex drive and reduced immune system function too.
If you are having trouble falling and staying asleep, try to use calming essential oils, listen to sleep music and even consider getting a more comfortable bed.
If you are one of those people who switch off at the very mention of ‘exercise’, then you definitely need to make the lifestyle and mindset change to get ‘more active’.
Regular physical activity is important. It has been proven to give you more energy, add more years to your life and generally improve your overall physical and mental health.
This doesn’t necessarily have to be exercise in the traditional sense of going to the gym, or jogging, although that does help. It can take several other forms.
For instance, even if you don’t have a dog, you can join your friend when they take theirs for a walk. That way you are maintaining social contact with friends as well.
Similarly, mowing the lawn and doing gardening maintenance can give you a good work out too.
Other things you can do is park further away from the entrance to the shopping centre, so you must walk more steps to get there.
Also take the stairs, as opposed to lifts where possible, and invest in a Fitbit which counts your steps throughout the day, and thus encourages you to take some more.
During our everyday lives, we perform many roles. This includes being a parent, partner, employee/employer, family member, caregiver, friend, teammate, the list goes on.
These roles tend to demand a lot of our time, which can take its toll on us, particularly mentally, after a while.
It is important thus to have some time for ourselves, to do the things we like to do. Which is why it is a good idea for you to invoke the twenty-minute rule.
Essentially the twenty-minute rule involves you setting aside 20 minutes a day for you to do whatever you like to do in peace, without distraction.
This could be going for a morning surf, or spot of yoga by the beach, reading a book, fishing, creating some art, enjoying a coffee whilst playing your favourite tunes – basically anything that relaxes you and makes you happy.
You are welcome to do this longer than 20 minutes if you can, but if you do set aside some ‘me time’, you will find yourself less stressed, more rested, and a lot less mentally cluttered.
Did you know, as well as being a pleasurable experience, making love regularly is actually good for you?
A steady stream of orgasms over the course of the week, or month, has been proven to improve your heart health and immune system, lower your blood pressure, raise your self-esteem, decrease levels of depression and anxiety and even get better sleep. It is also a good way to get active too!
While it is great to have a partner for this activity, bear in mind that you don’t necessarily need one to enjoy the health benefits of an orgasm.
Negativity, and negative people can really drag you down, so where possible try and limit, or even sever contact, with those who see the glass very much as being half empty.
We all know someone like this. A naysayer who brings everyone’s mood down with their cynicism. Who rains on your parade when you tell them about your exciting plans. Or constantly says ‘I don’t want to get my hopes up in case I get disappointed’.
These people will severely restrict and weigh you down. And in many cases prevent you from living your best life.
To avoid contact with them, try and develop a network of positive people who will not just encourage you to achieve your goals, but also, whose first thought is to have fun and look on the bright side of life. Lifestyle Changes You Never Realize need to change
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