Healthy living is guaranteed to ensure you live a happy and fulfilled life. When you are mentally, emotionally, and physiologically healthy, you’ll be able to enjoy life to the fullest. They are closely related and often co-dependent on one another.
Following directions on what to eat, how to exercise, when to sleep, and other healthy lifestyle determinants can be challenging to adapt to. Incorporating lifestyle changes to ensure longevity and health is very important if you want to do right by yourself. However, once you adopt them, there is no going back. You’ll feel refreshed, energetic, and full of life.
Here is a guide to five lifestyle changes you need to add to your routine to live a healthy and long life:
- Get Screened Regularly:
Getting screened is essential for the diagnosis of any health problems early on. Healthcare professionals stress the importance of semi-annual and annual screening. They are an effective tool for identifying any diseases before the symptoms appear. Hence, get regular screenings done as they can make a world of difference when it comes to your health.
With the guidance of healthcare professionals, you can even start treating yourself before the disease appears and can uproot it before it causes health problems. They will tell you about all the tests that need to be done and help you point out flaws in your current lifestyle.
For example, many people living in old and rundown houses are unaware they are at risk of mesothelioma. Getting screened can help them get an early diagnosis, and they can start a treatment plan and relocate. They can look at treatment options with mesothelioma specialists and seek their guidance for any lifestyle changes they need to adopt. For more information, visit mesotheliomahope.com.
- Adopt Healthy Eating Habits:
A healthy and balanced diet helps us attain all the necessary nutrients and minerals to maintain good health. Avoiding unhealthy, processed, and junk food can help you prevent many diseases.
According to the National Library of Medicine, having more than four servings of processed food can increase the chances of all-cause mortality by 62%. These foods can cause cardiac and digestive diseases and sometimes lead to chronic cancer.
Some examples of ultra-processed foods are white bread, cookies, chips, cereals, sodas, and even instant oatmeal. Hence, avoiding them will protect your health, prevent diseases and even minimize the severity of an illness you might already have.
To stay healthy, add all the food groups to your diet. These include fruits and vegetables, proteins, whole grains and fibers, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, and healthy fats. This will not only keep your body in shape, but also increase your chances of a healthy and long life. Seek guidance from your healthcare provider on what suits your body and will help you have a better quality of life.
- Avoid Unhealthy Consumption Patterns:
Unhealthy consumption patterns include consuming alcohol, drugs, and other intoxicating substances that can cause long-term harm to your body. Smoking is an excellent example of harmful consumption.
Avoid smoking at all costs as it decreases your life expectancy considerably and can cause respiratory and cardiac diseases. According to the National Institute of Cancer (NCI), it is the most significant preventable illness and cause of death in the U.S.
Avoid consuming alcohol and taking addictive substances as they harm you physically, mentally, and emotionally. For example, consuming excessive amounts of alcohol can cause liver cirrhosis, ultimately leading to liver cancer. If you struggle with alcoholism, reach out to a rehabilitation center and seek guidance from a healthcare provider.
- Routinely Physical Exertion
The common misconception that you can only exercise at the gym or in a structured environment is wrong on many levels. You can exercise anywhere, at any time!
What matters are the intensity, frequency, and time you engage in physical exertion? If you haven’t incorporated any form of physical exertion into your routine, it is never too late to start today. Start with an easy target and slowly increase your physical activity. Please do not start with challenging exercises. It will cause more harm than good.
Regular physical activity helps decrease the chances of chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer by a considerable percentage. Add exercise to your weekly, if not daily, routine. Ensure that you engage in both cardio and resistance training. They are effective in increasing longevity.
Try adding 10,000 steps to your daily routine if you cannot take time out for exercise. It is equivalent to a workout, and when combined with a healthy lifestyle, it can make a world of difference in your health.
Remember, there is no hard and fast rule regarding exercising. You can do it as you please. You can even do some light exercise when you wake up in the morning for ten minutes. Just make sure you put your body through some form of physical exertion.
- Monitor Your Weight:
Obesity is the mother of all diseases. We’ve heard it a million times and seen it happen. Being overweight or obese can cause a lot of medical conditions and affect your quality of life. You’ll slowly start feeling better and more active when you take the extra pounds off your body.
A slight weight loss of 5 to 10 percent can also make a difference. Adopt healthy consumption patterns when you are trying to lose weight. Keep your healthcare provider and fitness instructor in the loop. Avoid making any sudden and abrupt changes in your routine. Try easing off unhealthy habits slowly.
One great way of knowing whether you are at a good weight for your height is by calculating your Body Mass Index (BMI). You can consult a BMI scale for this purpose. It will help you see how much work you need to put in to get to a healthy body mass.
Bottom Line:
You cannot make healthy lifestyle changes overnight. It will take time and effort. You need to be patient and not set unrealistic and unachievable goals. Adding all these lifestyle changes will be daunting at first, but your quality of life will improve considerably once you’ve adopted them. Keeping your healthcare providers in the loop is also important so they can point out any flaw in your regimen.
