Today, many of us are putting extra thought into our physical health. Taking care of our bodies is an important endeavour. When we feel unhealthy, our quality of life drops significantly, reducing our overall enjoyment and even reducing the quality of our mental health. We can attempt to work on many things in our lives to help us live a healthier lifestyle, whether that is doing more exercise or eating better. To help guide you towards a better quality of life and improve your physical well-being, we’ve put together some of the best ideas you can use today.
Wake Up Earlier
When we stay in bed for a long period of time, this can lead to us going in and out of different sleep cycles without fully completing them. Over the course of an average night, most of us go through about five full sleep cycles before we wake up. There are four sleep cycle stages; the last stage is known as rapid eye movement or REM sleep. This final stage is where we begin to dream as our brain activity increases, and this is why we generally awaken following a dream. If you sleep for longer than you need to and fail to get through a full cycle, you may wake up during REM, or deep sleep will throw your circadian rhythm out of order, meaning that the rest of your body may find it much more difficult to wake up properly. Your body’s cells are given the signal of when rest is happening and when everything needs to start functioning properly by your body clock, and by failing to keep to a good sleep schedule, you may experience what is known to some as a sleep hangover.
Get More Sleep
At the same time, you can also fail to get enough sleep, and this can be just as bad for your health as oversleeping. Adults are meant to get between seven and nine hours of sleep every night, and not sleeping for long enough can lead to the same groggy feeling as above, due to awakening from the wrong stage of sleep, and this is also combined with just not resting your body for long enough. Our bodies need sleep to repair and restore damaged cells and help our minds destress and recharge. Good sleep also helps to ward off certain diseases and illnesses and keep us ticking along healthily. Depriving yourself of sleep too often can lead to what is known as exhaustion. This will severely impact your lifestyle, reducing your concentration, focus, and ability to make sound decisions.
Get Plenty Of Exercise
It’s important to try to get regular daily exercise too. In fact, it’s said that we should be getting at least two and a half hours of exercise per day, and this can be a combination of cardiovascular and strength exercises. Anything that really gets the heart pumping will help you to burn off excess calories, helping you to reduce your weight and feel fitter and healthier. Working at a desk all day can be seriously unhealthy, especially if you don’t manage to get up often and walk around. This sedentary lifestyle is all too common today, and it’s highly recommended that we all do more to break away from it where possible for our health. A sedentary lifestyle can increase your chances of developing heart disease and stroke, so finding a way to increase the amount of exercise in your life is essential.
Eat The Right Foods
Alongside getting some quality exercise, your diet can greatly impact your quality of life and overall physical health. If you’ve been spending time at the gym working out, especially if you’ve been trying to build up your strength and muscle mass, you’ll want to think carefully about what nutrients you’re getting. You’ll want to cut out processed foods from your diet where possible, as these often contain excess salt, sugars, and unhealthy saturated fats, which can all contribute to some unpleasant diseases. If you’re looking at building mass healthily, you might want to consider adding a protein supplement to your diet and learning about how these nutrients can help you achieve your goals. For example, learning about essential vs nonessential amino acids or what types of supplements you should take before and after the gym is all information that can help you properly create a healthy diet to fit your exercise routine.
Spend Time In Nature
It’s been scientifically proven that being around nature can improve our mental well-being and our outlook on life. Not only that, but it can also benefit us physically too. Plants serve to clean the air we breathe, providing us with fresh air and absorbing carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. There is a study known as ecopsychology, which states that when we are feeling safe in nature, this can be a great remedy for stress. Blood pressure can be reduced, and our immune systems can be strengthened too. It can also help to reduce feelings of isolation, as staring at four walls for days on end can be oppressive and harmful to our mood. You’ll find that simply going for a walk in the park daily can bring you feelings of relaxation and joy.
Stay Hydrated
Ensuring that you are staying hydrated is another important goal, no matter what you’re doing. During exercise, for example, you’ll want to keep replenishing the liquid in your body which would otherwise be lost via sweating. However, you will still lose water from your body over the course of the day even if you’re not doing exercise. Lacking water in your body can impact your physical health, dropping your energy levels and preventing your organs and muscles from operating to the best of their ability. This can also impact your mental health, too. Dehydration can increase your risk of depression and other mental health problems such as anxiety. It’s important to try and drink about two litres per day to stick to an optimal level of hydration.