Simple Daily Habits to Support Long-Term Mental and Physical Health

Modern living has brought us amenities people could’ve only dreamed of just fifty years ago. However, this world of abundance and convenience has also resulted in some pretty unhealthy living habits. In fact, more people struggle with keeping positive habits than ever before. Unfortunately, subpar daily habits have plenty of negative consequences — including worse mental and physical health. This can be particularly debilitating when going through major life transitions and changes.

Luckily, while changing habits for the better is difficult — it’s also not impossible. In this article, we’ll give you a few suggestions on new habits you can introduce to improve the quality of your life.

Start Working Out Regularly

There’s no way to be physically healthy without regular exercise. Yes, this might seem radical, but it’s a simple truth that not enough people recognize. Sure, you can eat less and remain skinny even without working out — but that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily healthy.

Working out will bring you more stamina and energy daily. And if you incorporate regular weight training, it will also tone, expand, and maintain your muscles. This is crucial because a proper muscular structure prevents posture issues in old age and general health.

Plus, working out isn’t just important for your physical health. Mentally, you’ll feel better once you start exercising daily. You’ll get a feeling of accomplishment after each training session. Also, once you start noticing positive changes in your physique, your self-confidence will increase. Ultimately, you’ll get a more positive general outlook on life.

Actively Reduce Stress & Anxiety

More often than not, life is objectively stressful. Between a demanding job, family life, and maintaining other relationships and hobbies — being overwhelmed is perfectly natural. This is especially true when things aren’t going how you want in multiple aspects of your life.

However, this doesn’t mean you should let stress and anxiety run amok in your mind. You need to learn how to manage your stress levels daily for proper mental and physical health. Luckily, there are simple ways to manage anxiety—like deep breathing or taking short breaks into your routine—that can help keep stress levels in check and support a healthier, happier lifestyle.

Various breathing exercises can help you quickly achieve a sense of calm. This is especially important in highly stressful situations requiring rational thought and action. There are plenty of choices, but box breathing is one of the more popular.

One round of this breathing exercise involves:

1. Inhaling for four seconds
2. Holding your breath for four seconds
3. Exhaling for four seconds
4. Pausing for four seconds

After the pause, you can repeat the process. Tension will leave your body a few rounds later, and your heart rate will be slower. And once you master this, you can try out other options, like diaphragmatic breathing.

Eat Balanced Meals

Another shocking fact is that eating a balanced diet is beneficial for your brain health and physical well-being. Yes, this is a more difficult habit to introduce than breathing exercises and regular workouts. People who don’t eat healthily need to change everything about their meals to ensure they get at least two well-balanced meals each day.

However, it’s definitely worth it. And it doesn’t have to be a strict diet, at least not at first. You can gradually improve your diet to be more comfortable with the changes. Plus, depending on your current physical health, you may not have to make that much of a drastic change.

Practical Ways to Improve Your Diet

For starters, you may not have to eliminate candy or anything remotely unhealthy completely. This isn’t about an ascetic, minimal diet but moderation and balance. Each meal should involve a reasonably healthy protein source, a decent amount of vegetables, and limited carbs. Respect this simple tenet, and you’ll enjoy plenty of benefits of a well-balanced diet.

Keep in mind that unhealthy eating leads to all kinds of chronic diseases and serious issues like cancer. Plus, you’ll get better gut health in the long run, positively affecting your general mood.

Get More Sleep

This is one of the most crucial things you can do for your mental and physical health. Every physician on the planet will tell you that proper sleep is essential for every metabolic process in your body.

To put it simply, your body needs rest — and it’s your job to provide it on a daily basis.

When we’re asleep, our tissue repairs itself, we help our immune system stave off diseases, and our brain gets the rest it needs to properly function the next day. On the other hand, you know what you’re like on days when you don’t get enough sleep. You can’t concentrate on complex tasks and are far worse at any intellectual pursuit.

Generally, you have less energy, which negatively affects your mood and physical well-being.

You need to develop better sleeping habits to ensure this doesn’t happen. This means getting to bed at a reasonable hour. It also requires no distractions — like screens or audio content. Our phones, laptops, and TVs bombard us with content 24/7, and this makes it difficult to relax and fall asleep.

If you want to improve your general health by sleeping well, you need to distance yourself from sources of content on time.

Wrapping Up

You can introduce plenty of daily habits to improve your long-term mental and physical health. As you become healthier, you’ll discover new ways to feel even better daily.

However, everyone needs to start somewhere. And if you’re not living a healthy lifestyle right now, you need to begin with the basics. This means introducing some form of exercise, working actively to reduce stress, eating more nutritious food, and getting more sleep.

After this, you can start finding additional small habits to introduce — like drinking more water, stretching daily routines, and targeted skincare. There are always more ways to improve, as long as you have the patience for that.

Sources:

https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-raising-his-right-arm-2080544

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/gut-feelings-how-food-affects-your-mood-2018120715548

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6170050