The real wealth are healthy habits such as a healthy diet, exercise, regular sleep.
Keeping your priorities straight is a challenge, but it’s essential to prioritize your health. Without a healthy body, everything you’re working for doesn’t mean much.
Finances and health are nearly impossible to separate. After all, health care costs money, and making money is a lot simpler when you’re healthy. You may be thinking you just don’t have time to focus on healthy habits like a balanced diet, exercise, or sleep.
One study showed that medical expenses and disabilities may account for two-thirds of bankruptcies in the U.S. Even if that stat is skewed, we all know that medical costs can be really tough for the average family to handle. Keeping yourself healthy can prevent a ton of extra costs.
Many of the key steps to a healthy, happy and longer life are simple and within reach of almost all of us. Master these three science-based healthy habits and you’ll high-five your way to feeling great.
1. Exercise regularly
Exercise is the one thing in life you can do to live a longer, healthier life. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks exercise sky-high on its bucket list of activities.
“Only a few lifestyle choices have as large an impact on your health as physical activity,” says our nation’s top health organization.
The healthiest way to improve the quality of your sleep: exercise
“People who are physically active for about 150 minutes a week have a 33% lower risk of all-cause mortality than those who are physically inactive.”
If you get up and move at least 150 minutes each week, you cut your risk of dying by one-third.
In addition, exercise — even just walking at a moderate pace — has been shown to improve cognitive function, help you control your weight, reduce your risk for disease and, of course, strengthen your bones and muscles.
Some benefits are immediate: After finishing one 30-minute physical activity you’ll have less anxiety, lower blood pressure, more sensitivity to insulin and you’ll sleep better that night.
Get the recommended 150 to 300 minutes a week for adults of moderate-intensity exercise — such as brisk walking, dancing, bicycling, doubles tennis and water aerobics — as the benefits go up.
2. Eat a healthy plant-based diet
Keeping a healthy weight — defined by doctors as having a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9 — is another key way to stay healthy and reduce your risk of all manner of diseases and conditions.
There are lots of excellent diets out there to help you lose and keep your weight under control, which focuses on food to slow cognitive decline, and the Flexitarian Diet, which combines the words flexible and vegetarian.
Replace red meat with plant protein or dairy to live longer, two new studies suggests Science has shown that a plant-based, meaning you’ll eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds, can reduce the risk for diabetes, high cholesterol, stroke, dementia, memory loss, depression and breast cancer.
Use all kinds and colors of veggies to get the broadest range of nutrients, phytochemicals and fiber. Cook, roast or garnish them with herbs and a bit of extra virgin olive oil.
Add whole grains and fruit to every meal, but use nuts and seeds as a garnish or small snack due to their high calorie and fat content.
You’ll also eat less red meat, sugar, processed foods, and saturated fat and more omega-3-rich fish (twice a week) and olive oil. Think of chicken, beef and pork as a “seasoning” to a dish, instead of the main course.
Eat less meat and more plants
The real secret to the success of a plant base diet — it’s not dieting at all. It’s a lifestyle, with the greatest emphasis placed on exercise, mindfully eating with friends and family and socializing over meals.
3. Get good-quality sleep
You may choose to exercise or eat healthy, but your body is going to demand sleep. The quantity and quality of it, however, is essential and under your control. Sleep is as important for good health as diet and exercise. Good sleep improves your brain performance, mood, and health.
Not getting enough quality sleep regularly raises the risk of many diseases and disorders. These range from heart disease and stroke to obesity and dementia
If you’re not sticking to a regular sleep schedule, you’re hurting your health since experts recommend that school-age children get at least nine hours a night and teens get between eight and 10. Most adults need at least seven hours or more of sleep each night.
Getting less has been linked in studies to high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, weight gain, a lack of libido, mood swings, paranoia, depression and a higher risk of diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, dementia and some cancers.
Sleeping less than the recommended amount each night on a regular basis may double your risk of dying. In a longitudinal study, researchers found that those who reduced their sleep from seven to five hours or fewer a night were almost twice as likely to die from all causes, especially cardiovascular disease.
Additionally, your chances of developing a major disease or medical condition skyrocket if you don’t get enough sleep. That’s because during sleep, your body is literally repairing and restoring itself on a cellular level.
One sleep myth is that you can “catch up” on your days off. Researchers are finding that this largely isn’t the case. “If you have one bad night’s sleep and take a nap, or sleep longer the next night, that can benefit you,” says Wright. “But if you have a week’s worth of getting too little sleep, the weekend isn’t sufficient for you to catch up. That’s not a healthy behavior.”
Takeaway…there are actions you can take to help reduce your stress, improve your mood and to be well on your way to a happier, healthier life.
When you adopt healthy habits in one area of your life, those habits tend to have a ripple effect on other areas. For example, when you’re exercising regularly, you’re also more likely to eat healthy foods and get regular sleep.
These reasons should be adequate for you to prioritize your health and to convince you to live healthier, even if health itself isn’t enough of a reward.
References:
- https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/07/health/exercise-sleep-prevent-disease-wellness/index.html
- https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/04/good-sleep-good-health
- https://due.com/blog/financial-reasons-to-prioritize-your-health/
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