Being healthy means getting the right balance in your life. The balance comes from getting every part of your lifestyle tweaked, to the point where it promotes our health. So, what is living a healthy lifestyle and how can we achieve it? The answer to this question is easy, even though putting the principles into practice might take some doing! So, this post is going to be focused on explaining to you how to improve your lifestyle. With the end product being to promote a healthy life and we all know living a healthy life also promotes longevity.
What is living a healthy lifestyle.
The human body is a fine piece of equipment and like any other piece of equipment that we use, in our day to day life, it needs to be kept in tip-top condition to maintain its performance. We all have an idea of what the word fitness means. Or should I say we have a fixation on the part of fitness that interests us. But we never see the big picture, which goes a lot further than just having a good diet or taking regular exercise.
Creating better health.
A car needs regular daily, monthly and yearly checks to keep it safe and reliable. And this principle extends to every piece of machinery we use. Now I know our body is a living organism and it’s not a piece of machinery. But the fundamentals still apply, a car needs to rest, otherwise it could overheat, especially if it’s poorly maintained. It also needs fuel, without fuel it will not run, which is like our food. Without food, which is our fuel, we would struggle to perform our daily chores.
I’m also quite sure that you know what would happen to our cars if we left them standing for too long without a run. They would be sluggish and in a short space of time they would seize up! The human body would waste away and become sluggish without exercise.
What our body needs:
- Sleep.
- Regular exercise.
- A good diet.
- Contentment.
- Consume enough water.
Having the right balance of the above categories will allow you to enjoy your life. Hence live a healthy lifestyle. So, how do we achieve the essential balance that improves our lifestyle and our well being? Well to make sure everything I say is clear and easy to understanding, I’ll be giving you a breakdown of each category. Because knowing what is living a healthy lifestyle, doesn’t mean you’ll know how to achieve it.
But with the right kind of advice and guidance, it can become an easier task. The first part of creating a healthy lifestyle is all about rest and how much sleep you’re getting each night.
Sleep – a time for rejuvenation.
Our body needs to rest and during this period our body performs its repair program. I would assume this would take some time, which is why we are recommended to try to get between 7 – 9 hours sleep per night. Even though sleep is a needed part of a healthy lifestyle, there’re studies that have shown that a majority of us only get between 6 – 8 hours per night.
Now whereas this might sound like a really bad thing to do and would eventually lead to health issues. The study ran by The University of Toronto in June 2017 studied 40,000 people. And found that these people performed better than people who slept for more or less amount of the recommended hours! This seemed to be the optimum amount of sleep that was of great benefit to the majority of people who took part in this study.
Those who had under 6 hours of less sleep, performed cognitively like a 9 year old. One important thing to understand and take on board is that the benefits of 7 – 8 hours sleep per night. This was found to benefit everyone of any age. This was a big surprise to me. Because I have heard many people I have spoken to, from the older generation say that they only needed approx. 6 hours sleep per night!
The studies performed by the University of Toronto proves otherwise! The only thing that allows this to make sense to me, is that we are all different and therefore must require different amounts of sleep at some point in our life!
Taking regular exercise.
There’s been many articles and studies about the benefits of exercise, but not many have looked at how it can affect our lifestyle. I know that exercise is good for me and I have spent over 40 years, doing just that. That being exercise. My reasoning was all based on enjoyment and commitment to my sport. Now when I’m asked, “What is living a healthy lifestyle” I must reply, it requires a number of balanced sections in our lives. This is because it worked for me.
Change your life!
Exercise is one of those sections of our lives and it plays a big role in living a healthy lifestyle. I know your next question is going to be what type of exercise and why? Good questions and here’s the answers. We should all try to keep ourselves active, depending on our health and physical ability. This is without question, the type of exercise we choose to participate in will depend on a few things, our health and any ailments we might have.
Once we have established what our body will allow us to do, then it’s time to get to work! At the end of the day we need an exercise routine that’s going to raise our heart beat from its normal resting rate.
This will tell you that you’ve stepped outside of your comfort zone and because our heart is a muscle, it’s being put through its paces. Which will improve how it performs its job of pumping blood around our body.
Here’s a few exercises you might want to try:
- Swimming.
- Running.
- Rowing.
- Skipping.
- Weights.
- Zumba.
These are few that spring to mind, but are not all suitable for everyone. I’m sure you’ll find one or two that should be safe for you to perform and enjoy, which is very important for a lifestyle change. I could delve deeper into how long and how often you should work out to obtain some kind of benefit. But because this post is about, what is living a healthy lifestyle, I’ll just say that you should exercise at least 3 – 4 times per week and aim for a minimum of 30 minutes per session. Please also keep in mind what are you trying to achieve and to do that, you need to take your body out of its comfort zone.
Eating a healthy, balanced diet.
Getting the best from your workout or from your daily life, requires you to adequately fuel your body with good quality food. I specifically said good quality food because I didn’t want to cause any confusions. Our bodies perform best when it’s fed a balanced meal, but not just a balanced meal when you’re preparing yourself for a workout. Your consumption needs to be an ongoing choice. Your meals, like the guidelines I have suggested above should contain the right balance of:
- Carbohydrates.
- Protein.
- Vitamins.
- Minerals.
- Good fats.
Each element aids our bodies with its daily tasks, as well as helping with its repairs during our periods of rest.
What about stress!
I’ve heard many doctors mention how bad stress is for our hearts. In fact the phrase I have heard, is that, “Stress kills”! The good thing about stress, if there’s such a thing, is that it can be managed through getting the right amount of rest, (Sleep) exercise and changing your lifestyle for the better. Which is what this post is all about. What I really wanted to make you are aware of is that, we all have a certain amount of stress in our lives. This can be through our jobs, our families or even a relationship. They all cause stress!
The key is to recognize it and then learn how to manage it. One of the best ways is to take regular exercise. So as you can see, the basics for living a healthy life, goes a very long way to improving your health.
Finding contentment in your life.
I would like to point out that our mind and our body, are two separate entities and as such, we should cater for their needs separately. Trying to live a healthy lifestyle should make you take every part of your life into consideration and react upon what you have found. This might be that you’re not getting enough rest, exercise or you’re just constantly worried about your job. What I’m trying to say is we need to be content in our lives, this could mean how we look, to the company we keep.
Being content is very important to how we perform our daily chores and how we rest, my last word on this subject is, never underestimate the power of the mind!
Water is the key to life!
We are recommended to consume 2 litres per day of this precious commodity. The benefits of water to our body and diet is without a doubt a great benefit to our well being. Water helps to keep us hydrated, helps to prevent wrinkles, helps concentration, energy levels and helps to prevent headaches. Which can be created because of dehydration. But it really doesn’t stop there, water also helps to keep improve the appearance of our skin too, as well as moisten our internal organs.
During sport or workout our bodies sweat or if you prefer perspire. Whichever way you see it, our body releases water onto the surface of our skin to cool us down. So, drinking water is a very important function for our bodies and is also required to keep our internal organs in great shape too.
Finding a healthy balance.
As you have read creating and living a healthy lifestyle, requires a managed balance of how you live. Being healthy is not just about having a healthy breakfast or taking part in some form of exercise once a week. Where possible you should be aiming to perform some form exercise 3 – 4 times a week, if you can’t manage 15 – 30 minutes a day.
This should be complemented by a healthy balanced intake of food, bearing in mind that men should be aiming to consume 2500 calories per day and women should be aiming for 2000 calories per day. Get between 6 – 8 hours of sleep each night and consume between 1.5 – 2 litres of water per day. Which is the recommended amount and is best sipped throughout the day, instead of gulping!
Enjoy a stress free, contented lifestyle. In my opinion this is one of the most important things to get right, because if you’re happy with your life, then there’s a much better chance of living a healthier lifestyle. Without feeling restricted and unhappy with your life choices.
The essentials for a healthy lifestyle.
Creating and maintaining your new healthy regime might need a few props. Exercise wise you could purchase your own treadmill for running or walking, depending on your health. I know I have mentioned this before but due to the importance of this subject, I’m going to say it again. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your lifestyle especially if you’re already under your doctor and you are taking some form of medication!
Treadmills are a great piece of equipment but if the weather is good outside, then try to make the best of it. But when winter sets in and the elements don’t allow you to go out doors, it’s time to hit the treadmill.
You might fancy trying a rowing machine or an indoor cycle, both are great ways to get yourself healthier and can be done from home. The choices for home training equipment is quite vast, so make your choice by knowing what is best for you!
How to maintain heart health.
Combine your exercise routine with a heart bursting healthy supply of fruit, vegetables and grain. Our heart is very important to our health and it will benefit from a lot of the topics I have mentioned already, such as exercise and healthy food. But did you know that your heart can also be affected by your mental attitude and stress levels? Well, it can and for that reason I’m also going to quickly touch on the basics to great heart health.
All health establishments advice us to get our 5 a day, now I have also heard we should be consuming 7 a day! This refers to fruit. The easy way to stay inline with this recommendation is to get into the habit of making fruit smoothies. In one mix you can consume 3 – 5 types of fruit. It you do this twice a day, you’ll be consuming your recommended amount of fruit.
But we still need to include green leaf vegetables. I would also like to say, the greener the better. The simple rule here is to make sure every meal contains a sensible amount of vegetables. What is living a healthy lifestyle? It’s consuming great food that contains fruit, vegetables, exercise and a stress free life. And overall good living. The types of vegetables you consume should be:
- Broccoli.
- Carrots.
- Beans.
- Lentils.
- Spinach.
- Peppers.
Your heart will thank you for adding these types of vegetables to your daily diet. To enhance and maintain a healthy balanced lifestyle.
My conclusion on what is living a healthy lifestyle.
I believe living a healthy lifestyle is important to our health and everyone should do their best to follow health guidelines, where physically possible. There are no secrets to the benefits a healthy lifestyle will bring. But I’m also under no illusion that this is not a simple regime to maintain. Especially if you’re not used to healthy living and what it may contain.
The best advice I can offer you if you’re serious about understanding what is living a healthy lifestyle and you’re ready to make a change. Is to take it slow, start your transformation with looking at your sleep pattern, followed by what and when you are drinking and eating your meals.
Your next step in your transformation should target your present lifestyle and your mindset. If you’re happy with your present lifestyle, then you’re ready to add the final change, which is adding an exercise regime.
There you have it, you’ve successfully made the necessary steps, essential to changing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I’m here for you and I wish you success. If you need any more information or if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I will answer them as soon as possible.
To your health.
