A few small lifestyle changes can go a long way to a healthier life.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE SPORTS HUB
Staying at the top of your physical and mental game is difficult, even for people who work at it all the time. But it’s important to prioritize self-care in our lives, even if it only means a few minutes each day. There are plenty of small ways each of us can start to make improvements in our fitness, lifestyles and diets that end up having big impacts over the long run. Here, we’ve listed five tips to help give your health journey a little boost.
Avoid processed foods, refined sugars and snacking
We get it, processed foods are convenient and can be pretty tasty, to be honest. The obvious downside here is that you can’t control the amounts of sugar, salt and fat in these foods — and they are often added in large quantities to make processed foods more delicious. The worst part is that it is so easy to consume far too much without knowing what’s inside. Did you eat 10 grams of fat, or 80?
Trying your best to skip the bag of chips and munching on some tasty fruit or veg can go a long way to making you feel physically and emotionally better. Even reducing your intake of processed foods by a small amount can have a massive impact on weight management, and help you avoid chronic diseases like stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease and chronic kidney disease. Buying healthy snacks or preparing healthy meals that are easy to heat up, will help deter you from snacking between meals too.
Take some time to slow down and look inward
It’s often easy for us to forget to take care of our mental and emotional health with all of the day’s responsibilities racing by. Thankfully, it’s also easy to start making positive changes. Mindfulness meditation is one of the world’s most popular and convenient ways to slow down and balance your racing thoughts. It can take as little as 5-10 minutes per day, and is possible anywhere comfy in your home or even when you are out and about.
Put simply, mindfulness meditation is a kind of mental training that allows you to focus inwardly on your thoughts, achieve a calm state of mind, and reduce stress and anxiety. It’s even easier with a digital guide. The app Calm, for Android and iPhone, is the world’s most popular mindfulness app, and it comes with free daily lessons and paid subscriptions for when you want to take your meditation game to the next level. Or, you can head to websites like Mindful.org to learn some basic techniques and theories behind the practice.
Sticking to a steady and regular workout schedule can improve results.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE SPORTS HUB
Pick an exercise time, and stick to it!
By now, you’re probably no stranger to the physical benefits of exercise. It will help you manage your weight, reduce the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Your mental health will also give you a pat on the back, with regular exercise proven to reduce the risk of anxiety, depression and improve sleep.
What you might not know are the benefits of exercising at the same time slot each day — and committing to it. A study published in the journal Obesity in 2019 showed that people who exercise at the same times each week spent more time exercising and got more out of their workouts than people who exercised at varied times throughout the week. Doctors attribute this to physical habit formation in the brain.
Get out there and try something new
There are lots of good reasons to switch up your exercise routine. It helps to prevent injuries from overtraining specific joints, can help you break through weight-loss plateaus, and even build new muscles you did know you had.
For us, the best part is breaking out of the same old pattern. Workout boredom is a real thing in the fitness world — how many minutes until I can get off this treadmill? Trying new activities, like martial arts, yoga or a new sport can help keep the sweat session engaging and fun. Who knows, you might even find a new passion or talent along the way! You’ll never know if you don’t switch things up from time to time.
Give back and love yourself by loving others
The act of giving back to your loved ones and wider community is one of the most endearing qualities a person can have. It doesn’t just help the folks you interact with, either. A study by the Cleveland Clinic showed that acts of altruism — the science-y word for a selfless act for others — lowers stress levels, improves self-esteem, lowers blood pressure and can even reduce incidences of depression. By helping others, you are literally making yourself healthier along the way. It also helps to strengthen your bonds with the people around you and build a communal sense of gratitude between yourself and others, reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness.
There is no way around it, looking good and feeling good is a combination of many things. There are countless paths you can take on your journey towards self-improvement — combining exercise, diet and lifestyle habits — but the key is to start, and keep on going. Bit by bit, day by day, you can get there, and have a bit of fun while doing it!
