Health is not just about your fitness levels, or how quickly you can run 100 metres..
Improving your health really means changing negative habits and lifestyle choices, changing negative or ‘can’t do it’ attitudes, and beginning to make good choices with regards to your health and fitness. If you are in a position where I have been previously, and are not happy with your current state of health, today is the day to make some changes!
To get started, here are 5 quick ways to begin improving your own health:
1. Get more sleep. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? You might be interested in knowing if sleep is really that important. According to Harvard Health (www.health.harvard.edu), sleep helps your body in many areas - most notably:
* Learning and memory: In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later.
* Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that affect our appetite.
* Safety: Lapses due to lack of sleep may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic mishaps, and road accidents.
* Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you like to do.
* Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
* Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.
2. Get some exercise. The benefits of exercise are well known - getting started and ‘baby steps’ is the key! Make a decision to start with some easy exercise, don’t have unreasonable or unrealistic goals or expectations. You can start with a 10 minute walk for instance. Before you eat breakfast tomorrow, grab your ipod and walk while you listen to 4 songs… then turn around and walk back.
3. Change your diet. Begin with some basics here - for this week, commit yourself to cutting out some of the unhealthy snack foods from your diet. Sweets, lollies, chips, ice-cream, soft drink, donuts… leave them alone this week! If you are hungry between meals, eat a banana! Have some low fat yoghurt. Drink some water, munch on a carrot - you will find after a week of cutting bad snack foods out, it’s easy to continue making healthier food choices.
4. Appreciate yourself. Take some pride in how you groom yourself, look and dress. Appreciate your uniqueness and self worth - the road to healthy lifestyle choices begins with liking yourself and looking after yourself.
5. Pray. Pray for the health and well being of your family and friends. Pray for yourself. Be specific - cast off your cares and concerns, ask for provision where you have needs. See here for more.
Making changes to your health and lifestyle begins with you deciding to change! Get started today on these 5 quick tips, and get yourself on the road to healthy living.
All the best..
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