Health and fitness are partly a subjective term. It differs from person to person; for some fitness is a condition of being in a good physical state while for others.
Health doesn’t restricts till physical health. Your mind’s healthy is equally important as a person’s mind and body are connected. A healthy mind means a healthy body.
A book called ikigai-the Japanese secret to a long and happy life by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miracle shows about the centenarians living in Japan and their secret to living for more than hundred years.
Well, the people living in the island of Okinawa (where most of the centenarians live) when interviewed said simplest of things keep moving your body, keep your mind bust and most importantly eat lots of vegetables and fruits.
Why I am emphasizing on the book is because many nutritionists, experts and doctors too say similar things.
The ways to keep your mind and body are quite simple.
Healthy habits to healthy life
Exercise regularly
There is no other way you can keep your body active and fit. Exercises have numerous benefits both for your body and mind; in and out.
Regular working out controls weight and gain excess weight by burning extra calories and reducing fats.
It combats various diseases like high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer and improves cognitive function as well. Studies show that increased physical activities and exercises improves quality of living and even reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.
- Working out stimulates chemicals in your brain that relaxes your mind and reduces your stress.
- It promotes better sleep; regularly exercising in the day will boost your body functions and energy. It will reduce your daytime sleepiness and makes you sleep better and sound at night.
- Pick up any form of exercises that your trainer suggests or the one that suits your body. And do it 3-4 four times a week.
- Walking is the easiest form of exercise that is super beneficial just like other ones.
- Experts recommend 150 minutes of exercise per week (low to moderate intensity) and 75 minutes a week of vigorous exercise.
Sleep enough and well
A good sound sleep is extremely important for your overall health. It is necessary to sleep peacefully for your brain to clear all the day’s tension and debris. Sleeping well heals your body; all the other physical activities are shut for your body and it replenishes and nourishes the cells.
Studies say that sleep plays a key role in emotion regulation and it improves clear thinking and better concentration.
Lack of proper sleep can lead to several conditions like hypertension, type 2 diabetes, impaired immune functioning, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and mood disorders.
To avoid health conditions it is utmost important for your body and mind to rest and heal while sleeping. Having sound sleep of 7 to 9 hours free of technology and devices will lead to healthier body.
Healthy Diet
Food plays an important role in our lives. The kind of food we eat affects our inner as well as the outer bodies. Having a balanced diet is the key to a healthy body. A balanced diet contains is a diet that contains different kinds of foods, in different quantities and proportions with calories, minerals, vitamins, proteins and low carbs.
- For maintaining a healthy diet you need to plan your meals, do not skip any meals. It reduces the metabolic rate.
- Eat many kinds of vegetables, all colours of them, leafy, roots, cruciferous all of them.
- Eat fruits, they too provide minerals, vitamins, fibers, some are antioxidants that naturally detox your body.
- Practice mindful eating. It is simply focusing just on the food while eating it, observing its tastes, textures and what it is doing to your body and how you feel about it.
- For any health conditions, plan your diet and meals recommended by your doctor. It is necessary to keep a track on how and what you eat to gain the benefits of the food to the maximum.
- Avoid processed and packed food. The foods that are artificially sweetened or flavoured damages your internal organs and is difficult to digest.
- Green teas, herbal teas are great as antioxidants. They have their own benefits like weight loss, flushing out toxics and warding off germs and diseases.
- Keep your meals simple; do not too much of spices or to the extent that your body cannot handle it. Observe and know what food causes allergies or other problems to your body.
- Dried fruits, nuts and seeds, dark chocolate if had in moderation are super beneficial to your body.
Hydrate your body
Drinking enough water is extremely important as it has many benefits like regulating temperature of your body, keeping your joints lubricated, prevent infections, and deliver all the nutrients to the cells everywhere in your body and flush out toxins.
Experts recommend drinking 11 cups of water on an average for women and 16 cups for men.
Try adding flavours to your water with ginger or lemon, cucumber, watermelon, cumin, mint, limes and oranges to get extra benefits.
Hygiene
Personal hygiene as well as hygiene of your surroundings is another important step towards healthy life. Personal hygiene includes keeping clean, dental care, bathing, wearing clean clothes, keeping your hair nit and clean. All these things will keep away all the diseases causing germs to attack your body. It refreshes your mind and gives your body a feeling of happiness.
Keeping your surrounding clean and organized makes sure your mind doesn’t get irritated and distracted from all the dirt (visible and invisible) and chaos.
Poor hygiene can lead to conditions like diarrhoea, respiratory infections, colds and flu, scabies, tooth decay, etc.
Practice meditation
Meditation is probably the most apt way of calming your mind, organs, skin, everything in and out your body. Studies show that meditation boosts your emotional intelligence, enhances creativity and also improves your relationships as all the negative and stress is reduced.
Meditation is the times you spend with yourself and your thoughts. You get to know your needs, strengths, weaknesses better and understand yourself better.
- Through meditation gain new perspectives in stressful situations.
- It increases self-awareness
- You learn to focus better on the present
- It helps you get rid of negative emotions
- You get better with your tolerance and patience levels
- Improves imagination thereby boosting your creativity.
Keep learning
It is equally important to keep yourself updated. A little curiosity can lead to much better things. You keep yourself busy with the things that interest you and thereby your mind get fed with the satisfaction.
Learning a skill or a language, may be an instrument can give you the pleasure that your mind needs. It will make you understand better some things like self-discipline, commitment and dedication. Give time and attention to want you want, it could be travelling and exploring, reading books, painting, skiing, dancing, meeting new people and keep learning.
The Takeaway
Living a healthy life needs simple steps yet one should take things slow and steady. Adding these things one by one and letting your mind and body adjust to it with time will lead to success. Also, in times these health is neglected chasing other things. But remember the age old proverb “health is wealth” and start practicing to lead towards a happy life.
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