We all know it, life can be quite a ride. Unfortunately, amidst the chaos, your health can be the first to suffer. Despite the distractions that pull you off track, here are 6 simple ways to put your health first.
Start Your Day With A Healthy Choice
Choosing health really is simple. Although you may not know how to climb the mountain toward better health, taking one small step at a time is the most effective way to get you there. When you wake up in the morning, you are faced with a brand new day and clean slate. From a healthy breakfast choice to a positive intention, anything that gets you going on the right foot will help set your health direction for the day.
Breathe
Yes, of course, in order to survive, you need to breathe! But there’s a difference between automatic breathing and intentional breathing. When you breathe with intention, it’s astonishing how quickly your health will respond. Are you stressed to the max? Overwhelmed? Tired? All of the above!? Taking even 2-3 deep diaphragmatic breath’s (versus the usual shallow quick breathes into your chest) can significantly reduce blood pressure, instantly reduce stress hormones, and powerfully clear your mind for the day. All crucial elements of incrementally building your way back to better health.
Move
Science and physics can explain a lot. And the knowledge we gain from how things work can easily be applied to health. Inertia, which is the tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged, applies not only to objects at rest, but possibly to your current state of health as well. Once you get up and move, things start to happen. Research shows that by simply increasing your level of activity, your level of health can (and will) comparatively also increase. Moving for health doesn’t have to be defined as high intensity exercise or gym workouts, as it’s been proven that even moving for a few minutes during every 90 minutes of being sedentary can drastically impact your health, and single handedly increase longevity.
Stop Separating Your Health From Your Life
This one is my motto. In order to keep your health simple, there’s no purpose in creating separate categories for both health and life. It’s not enough to go about your daily life and only sporadically making or dedicating time for your annual doctors visit or for health. If you are serious about putting your health first, it’s critical that you cultivate a life that makes it next to impossible to define the line between living life and living for health. Remember, no matter what you do in life (or for your health), you are simultaneously writing your health story too, whether for the worse or for the better.
End your day with water
It’s true, our days and lives are becoming busier and busier. So what can you do to ensure you’re making a simple, yet positive choice for your health? Drink water. Drink pure filtered water as often as you can. The kicker here is that water within an hour or two before bed (or at bedtime if your bladder can handle it), is an independent and crucial choice to help make or break your health. It’s true. Although water is seen as inert to most, H2O is the secret to life. Properly hydrating yourself before bed allows the critical processes of your body to restore and rejuvenate your health for the next day. Even 1 cup of water before bed, nightly, will do your health wonders.
Sleep
Sleep is the cornerstone to health. There’s no other way to put it. Without sleep, all other aspects of health fall apart, yet with adequate sleep, all other health processes will become optimized. Have you ever pulled an all nighter or lacked significant sleep for a night or more? There is little to no hope or science validating proper functioning of health without it.
Although the above may seem like insignificant choices, the day to day culmination clearly proves its positive impact on health is real.
Dr Jeremy Hayman, ND helps patients at Cornerstone Naturopathic Inc. feel better, live better, and achieve optimal wellness and health. Years of patient care coupled with dedication to personal life balance has helped Dr Jeremy employ the adage that “your approach to health should be simple”.