With a new year starting today, many people are making resolutions. Others are feeling completely overwhelmed with no idea where to start. Still others are content to sit back and go with the flow, seeing where the year takes them.
If you want a few simple tips to live a healthier life in 2021, you have come to the right place. All of these suggestions are easy to implement and they are tried and true.
Even if you just choose a couple from the list and put them into practice, you will be a much healthier version of yourself this time next year.
Join me and we will get healthier together!
Go to Bed Earlier
Sleep plays an essential role in good health and well-being during the course of your life. Getting enough quality sleep can help protect your mental health, physical health and quality of life.
During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. Your body works to repair muscle, organs, and other cells. Chemicals that strengthen your immune system start to circulate in your blood. You spend about a fifth of your night’s sleep in deep sleep when you’re young and healthy — more if you haven’t slept enough. The older you get, the less time you spend in deep sleep.
During REM sleep, scientists believe that your brain clears out information that it doesn’t need– think emptying the trash bin on your PC– deleting the trash helps our brains function better, improving problem solving, fact recall and task completion.
Ongoing sleep deficiency can raise your risk for some chronic health problems. It also can affect how well you think, react, work, learn, and get along with others.
You should aim to get 7-8 hours of sleep every night. Getting on a sleep schedule with roughly the same bedtime and wake time is also beneficial.
My fitbit has been telling me that I am not getting enough sleep, averaging 6.5 hours per night. My sleep goal in 2021 is to get to bed by 10:30-11 so I can get the recommended amount of sleep each night.
What’s yours?
Drop it in the comments.
Drink More Water
Drinking enough water each day is crucial for many reasons: to regulate body temperature, keep joints lubricated, prevent infections, deliver nutrients to cells, and keep organs functioning properly. Being well-hydrated also improves sleep quality, cognition, and mood.
Many health and wellness experts recommend drinking half your body weight in water daily but this is dependent on your level of activity and water loss throughout the day. If you work a sedentary job sitting in front of a computer screen all day you might not need as much water as someone working construction outside during the summer. At bare minimum, you should aim for 64oz of water per day with the goal of working up to half your body weight. For example, if you weigh 160lbs, you should be drinking at least 80oz of water per day.
I prefer to drink my water in glass bottles or cups, mainly because I add essential oil to my water for additional health benefits and some oils don’t do well in plastic containers. When I am at home, I like to use my 24oz mason jar to measure and drink my water. I start the morning with my 24oz glass and 2 drops of lemon essential oil. The lemon essential oil provides a flavor boost as well as natural cleansing ability for the kidneys and liver.
Park Farther from your Destination
Your goal should be to get 10,000 steps per day. Until you strap on a pedometer or a fitness tracker, you might not realize just how difficult that is, especially if you have a sedentary job. A helpful tip that I learned years ago, is to park farther away from your destination. Not only does this add extra steps to your day, but it helps you burn more calories too.
Instead of circling the parking lot at the mall or grocery store trying to get the closest space, park at the end of the lot and walk. Instead of taking your same parking spot next to the door at work every morning, park at the end of the lot or the building next door.
If you commute to work by train, get off 1-2 stops early and walk the rest of the way. This can add 15 minutes of activity to your day with minimal effort.
Doing these small things will add up, helping you hit that 10,000 step goal.
Use Natural Products
Synthetic chemicals are in nearly everything we touch and consume these days. Sadly, many of those chemicals can be potentially harmful and a number of experts are anxious about possible long-term health effects of our everyday exposure. Of the more than 40,000 chemicals used in consumer products in the US, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, less than 1% have been rigorously tested for human safety.
Sure, synthetics are used because they are cheaper than natural products, and who doesn’t love a good bargain. But at the expense of your health and the health of your loved ones? I don’t think so.
Here are a few easy areas to target when making the transition from synthetics to natural products.
- Deodorant: Make your own (it’s really very simple!) or buy natural. Love your body and leave the chemicals behind.
- Room Spray: Stop spraying harmful chemicals to “freshen” your home. Instead, get a diffuser and add a few drops of high quality essential oil.
- Wool Dryer Balls/Essential Oil: Toss the chemical laden dryer sheets and opt for wool dryer balls and a few drops of your favorite essential oil instead.
- Hand Sanitizer: The chemicals in hand sanitizer can be dangerous with continued exposure. Try a natural alternative, a moisturizing spray made with essential oils that kills 99.9% of germs and bacteria.
- House Cleaner: Dump the potentially poisonous cleaners and go with a cheaper, safer, highly effective alternative.
Spend More Time Outside
Spending time in nature is a great way to energize yourself while getting a necessary dose of Vitamin D. Vitamin D is made in the skin when it’s exposed to sunlight. Sun exposure is by far the best way to boost vitamin D levels, particularly because very few foods contain significant amounts.
According to Healthline, midday is the best time to catch some rays. For example, in the UK, 13 minutes of midday sunlight exposure during summer three times per week is enough to maintain healthy levels among Caucasian adults (5).
Another study found that 30 minutes of midday summer sun exposure in Oslo, Norway was equivalent to consuming 10,000–20,000 IU of vitamin D (8).
Researchers in the UK surveyed more than 19,000 people about the recreational time they spent in nature during the past week, along with their self-reported health and well-being.
They found that people who spent at least 120 minutes a week in nature saw a boost in their mental and physical health, compared to people who didn’t spend any time in nature.
In another study, researchers found that just being in nature for 5 minutes can boost your mood.
Give yourself the gift of nature. Take a blanket outside and read a book. Strap on your running shoes and hit the trails. Take your kids to the park. I challenge you to spend 10 minutes outside every day this week. If you do it, let me know in the comments!
Take the Stairs
Similar to parking farther away from your destination, taking the stairs adds extra steps and activity to your day. This extra activity helps to lubricate joints, support bone health and maintain healthy muscles.
The next time you go to the mall, take the stairs instead of the elevator. If you work in a multi-level office building, opt for the stairs. The next time you stay at a hotel, use the stairs (after you unload your luggage!).
Working stairs into your day is a super simple and highly effective way to combat a sedentary lifestyle. If you sit behind a computer all day, like I do, you know what I’m talking about!
Use a Fitness Tracker
I never had much interest in having a fitness tracker until my friend gave me hers when she upgraded. I started wearing it and within days, I was addicted. How many steps did I get? How long did I sleep last night? How many times was I restless? Questions I didn’t even know that I had were suddenly taking over my thoughts. A fitness tracker is a great way to track your health goals and your progress. It’s also fun to do challenges with friends; even when you live hundreds of miles apart. The following is a list of things that many new fitness trackers can do:
- Track your location
- Heart Rate
- Blood Pressure
- Calorie logging and burning
- Body Composition
- Multiple Exercises on one Gadget
- Sleep
Shop around to find a tracker that is right for you. There are basic pedometers that just track steps and fancy watches that do all sorts of things. There is something for every budget.
Declutter Your Home
Believe it or not, having a cluttered home can be harmful to your health. Clutter can affect our anxiety levels, sleep, and ability to focus. It can also make us less productive, triggering coping and avoidance strategies that make us more likely to snack on junk and watch TV shows.
Getting more organized and donating items that you no longer use will help you in many ways, including.
- Reduce Stress & Anxiety
- Improve Sleep
- Boost Productivity
- Rid home of Allergens
- Cultivate a Happy Environment
- Gets you Moving
Practice Gratitude
Robert Emmons, a well-known mental health specialist, conducted multiple studies on stress and health which indicated that gratitude effectively releases stress hormones and increases positive emotions like happiness. Commitment to daily gratitude practice reduces an array of negative emotions and is considered a natural stress detox for the mind and body.
Studies have shown that people who feel more grateful to Him, are healthier and stress-resilient in life (Krause, 2006). An experiment conducted on three groups of individuals revealed that older men and women felt more grateful to God for their lives, and scored a high stress-tolerance index than others.
The daily practice of gratitude may not be an immediate form of stress reduction. However, over time, if we are intentional about acknowledging our blessings daily, we will be happier and less bogged down with negative feelings and emotions, causing our stress levels to decrease.
A couple of years ago, my friend told me that she started keeping a gratitude journal and it helped her immensely. So, I decided to give it a try. Every night, I would write 3 things from that day that I was thankful for. With the craziness of life, I haven’t been doing it lately, but I fully intend to get back to it. When I was journaling my gratitude, I was training my mind to focus on the positive. When you focus on the positive blessings in your life, it helps reduce your stress and anxiety.
Another way to practice gratitude is with a prayer journal. I ordered an awesome book on amazon for my friend at Christmas and ended up getting one for myself after she told me how much she enjoyed it. This particular journal has space for things that happen during the week that you are grateful for as well as space to write out prayer requests. I have found this to be very helpful and I highly recommend it. If you are interested in getting one for yourself, click here.
Using a gratitude jar is also a wonderful way to practice being grateful. You simply get a jar and at least once a week, you write something that you are thankful for on a piece of paper and add the paper to the jar. On New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, dump the jar and take time to count your blessings, reading over all of the wonderful things from the previous year can help you start the new year with the right mindset.
Eat More Whole Foods
Food is fuel for your body. If you have a car that requires Ultimate gasoline and you use regular, you are going to hear strange noises and your vehicle is not going to respond well. Our bodies are the same way. When we fuel our bodies with fresh produce and lean meats, we have energy, strength and stamina. When we load up on processed foods, we walk around in a fog, have low energy and want to crawl into a ball and nap.
Whole Foods are plant foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. Examples of whole foods include whole grains, tubers, legumes, fruits, and vegetables
The benefits of a whole food or a minimally processed diet include lower rates of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes. Another advantage of eating mostly whole foods comes from the vast array of nutrients acting together.
For suggestions and information on eating a more plant-based diet, click here.
Shop the Perimeter
I don’t know about you, but I rarely “impulse buy” when I am in the produce aisle at the grocery store. But man, when I head down the cookie/cracker/chip aisle I end up with a ton of items that were not on my shopping list. Suddenly, the highly processed comfort foods consume my thoughts and I rationalize reasons that I need to buy them. And the “reasons” are always the same- my kids or my husband. However, the odds are, I will end up consuming at least some of that food if I take it home…A great plan to avoid that is to minimize your time in the aisles.
Your goal, when you grocery shop, should be to fill your cart 75% full of items on the perimeter of the store. Visualize your local grocery store. Most of them are laid out in basically the same way.
My favorite grocery store has produce on the left side when I enter the store. I fill up on fresh veggies and fruit there. As I wind my way around the store, the meat and seafood department is next. Then comes the dairy area with cheeses, milk, yogurt. While 75% of your cart should be filled with perimeter items, most of that should come from the produce area.
As we embark on a new year, I want to wish everyone reading this many blessings in 2021. Cheers to living your best life!!
