When you wake up every morning, do you find yourself feeling fulfilled? Or do you feel like you’re off balance and craving more structure and energy? Whether you have health goals that you set for yourself every day or you find yourself wishing you drank more water or got out for a walk in the sun more often, everyone could benefit from improving their daily health habits.
Health habits look different for everyone, and they largely depend on what your goals are. When people think of “health,” they think of diet, weight loss, exercise and so on. However, “health” is much more than the aforementioned. Today, there are many ways a person can feel unhealthy or burnt out, but prioritizing health habits and self-care is a great way to regain balance and feel like your best self. If you want to feel more energized, fulfilled and optimistic every day, try adding these healthy habits into your life.
1. Set a Wake-Up Time that Works for You
What time do you wake up in the morning? And how do you feel about that time? Whether you have to be at work at a certain time or you work remotely and have some added flexibility, setting a time to wake up that feels right to you can help get your morning off on the right foot. Plus, waking up at the same time every day can put you on a routine, and following a routine can improve your mental health.
2. Prioritize Movement and Exercise Every Day
Whether you walk up the stairs rather than take the elevator or you hit the gym first thing in the morning, it’s important to move your body and track your activity every single day. The benefits of physical activity are increased muscle strength, improved mood and many other physical and mental perks. Try it for yourself and see just how much motivation and joy more activity brings you.
3. Adopt a New Mindset and Learn Something New
Learning something new every day is beneficial for many reasons — especially if you are taking interest in something that can change a negative mindset you currently have. Studying the body positivity movement can help you reset your thoughts on diet culture and weight loss and instead shift your focus to healthiness and happiness in your current body. You can learn more about the movement and join body positive networks to boost your learning potential.
4. Dress Up Every Day
Whether you view getting dressed up every day as an exciting time or more of a chore, styling plus size clothing into an outfit you love can improve your mood and boost confidence. Maintaining positive self-esteem is a healthy habit we think is critical to track on a daily basis. With that being said, fill your closet with clothes that excite you. If wearing plus maxi dresses is what makes you the happiest, prioritize it!
5. Check in with Yourself
How often do you check in with yourself every day? So many times we find ourselves consumed with work, kids, our partners, friendships and just the mundane everyday tasks, but we forget to check in with how we are really feeling. Making a habit to check in with yourself — whether every hour, on the hour or before you go to bed at night — is a healthy routine to create. This will ensure that you end every day feeling your best. And even if your check-in with yourself shows that you’re not feeling good, creating that awareness of how certain moods feel can help you improve your days and boost your mood.
Aside from checking in with yourself, make sure that you let medical experts like this professional Dentist in Murray Hill check your health as well. They can provide deeper insights when it comes to your physical health.
6. Monitor Your Sleep Patterns
Aside from setting a time to wake up every day, it’s also important to consistently monitor how much sleep you are getting. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends anywhere from seven to nine hours of sleep for the average adult in order to remain healthy. If you are getting far less or far more sleep than suggested, take baby steps toward improving your sleep routine. Make it a goal to get at least eight hours of sleep for a few days a week. Once you have stayed consistent with that, expand your goal to a few more days.
7. Supplements and Vitamin Intake
Many adults are deficient in their vitamin and supplement levels, which requires the intake of additional supplements, fruits, vegetables and vitamins to maintain healthy vitals. Visit your primary care doctor and ask them for a complete metabolic blood panel to see if you are deficient in any areas. Most of these deficiencies can be fixed by adding additional vitamins and supplements to your daily routine.
8. Track Your Personal Goals
Keeping a list of goals is a healthy practice that encourages and motivates you to live a life that’s true to you. It’s a healthy and positive habit to practice reminding yourself of your goals on a daily basis. Whether you write your goals down on sticky notes or you have them saved as your phone or laptop screensaver, take a second every day to read them over. Once you accomplish a goal, celebrate and reward yourself!
9. Abandon the Idea of “Perfection”
No one is perfect, plain and simple. Whether you are already keeping track of some of these healthy habits or you have a long way to go, start out with small goals and increase them as you build more confidence. You may forget to track some health habits one week, but that doesn’t mean you can’t jump right back in. Also, not all of these healthy habits will apply to everyone. So, stick with tracking the habits that fill your cup the most and help you to feel like your best self.
As you start to implement these healthy habits into your life, take notice of how you start to feel. If some of the habits you have formed no longer serve you, ditch them and adopt new ones that excite and balance you. As we mentioned above, everyone is unique, and healthy habits look different for everyone.
