When it comes to getting and staying healthy, people assume that they need to do fancy workouts or get on a rigid diet.
Those help.
However, staying healthy boils down to your daily habits. Working out heavily for two weeks and then returning to heavy snacking in between meals has never done anyone any good.
In this post, you will find 20 simple health habits you can incorporate into your day – starting right now – that will help you live an overall healthy and happy life. From sleep to diet and exercise, there are sure to be some that you can adopt.
20 Simple Health Habits
- Drink a gallon of water every day. Drinking more water has too many health benefits to fit into this blog post. Know however that your decision to drink more water can impact brain health, heart health, and body weight in positive ways.
- Walk for 30 minutes every day. The American Heart Association recommends that you engage in moderate exercise for at least 150 minutes per week. One way to remember this is for you to participate in physical activity for 30 minutes 5 days per week. And it does not have to be running if you hate running. You can derive just as much benefit from walking for 30 minutes for 5 days a week. Take a day trip to a fun location – it’s likely you will do a good amount of walking.
- Do 25-50 lunges daily.
- Do 50 heel raises.
- Do 25 sit ups.
- Eat one piece of fruit. Say no to the secret menu at In-N-Out and yes to fruit. When it comes to vitamins and minerals, people turn to supplements. And while supplements are great, fruits are a healthy natural source. Fruits also add roughage to your system and help with bowel movements. Constipation gone!
- Make sure your plate consists of equal proportions of protein, a source of minerals and vitamins (vegetables), and carbs.
- Develop the 2-minute walking rule for every hour you sit. Research has linked sitting for a long period with multiple health issues. As an employee, chances are that you are sitting in one spot for a long time on a daily basis. Set a timer to do a 2-minute walk for every hour you sit.
- Step counting. Wear a step-tracking device and shoot for 10,000 steps per day. Even doing half of this goal is phenomenal!
- Read five pages from a book. Reading the right books makes us smarter and keeps our brains sharp. But we all don’t like to read, do we? To make things easier, pick a book and read just five pages at a specific time every day. You will knock out quite the library if you keep the habit up.
- Journal. Keeping a journal is great for your mental health. Journaling your feelings about specific events helps you “talk it out” with yourself and helps you come to better conclusions as to how to resolve them.
- Drink a fruit smoothie after your morning walk to get your daily serving of fruits (and vegetables). We learned about eating a fruit a day from point number 6 on this list. But what if you don’t like eating raw fruits and vegetables? Turn it into a smoothie you drink after your 30-minute morning walk.
- Plan your meals each week. Planning your meals each week means you will put a lot of thought into what you will have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day. This means you are less likely to purchase items that are not healthy for you and focus on foods that give you the nutrients you need. Planning your meals also means you are less likely to spend money on expensive food places when lunchtime comes around at work. So you get a two-for-one win: you’re keeping both your body and wallet healthy.
- Make your own single-serve snack packs. Need a snack? Resist the urge to go to the vending machine by making your own single-serve snack packs. Beat those in-between meals hunger pangs and save money as well.
- Eat fruit instead of eating a candy bar. You can apply this rule to any junk food item: replace it with a healthier food choice. This is one of those simple health habits that everyone can easily adopt.
- Eat your last meal at least 3 hours before you go to bed. Apart from the obvious fact that eating and immediately going to bed can cause indigestion, recent research shows that your body has a circadian rhythm that is regulated by daylight and the time of day you choose to eat. If you eat too close to your bedtime, you are feeding false information to your body which in turn can lead to health problems along the line.
- Avoid screens in your bedroom. Want to get better sleep? Avoid screens in your bedroom. Keep the TV, tablets, and cell phones out of your room for better sleep.
- Get sleep. Make an effort to get between 6-8 hours of sleep at the very least. Because nobody enjoys a tired, cranky co-worker.
- Have a bedtime routine. Tell your body it is time to go to bed by engaging in simple bedtime routines like showering, turning off all lights, and listening to soft music before.
- If you have trouble sleep, avoid caffeine in the late afternoons. Caffeine is our favorite stimulant for when we want to stay productive. And it can interrupt your sleep when it’s time for bed. Avoiding caffeine in the late afternoons will allow your body to get rid of caffeine so that it doesn’t interfere with your sleep.
And there you have it! Twenty simple health habits you can incorporate into your everyday life to help you live a healthier and happier life.
