During the crisis of a pandemic outbreak, the most important topic is health. Every now and then we hear that we must improve our health, especially our immune health, in order to fight the virus, but the question arises: how? There are many controversies, even among the professionals, on what guidance to follow to improve your health, and what to avoid or what to limit. Rest assured this article has combined all the proven tips to maintain and improve your health.
Firstly, health or healthy living is the balance between the body, mind, spirit, and social wellbeing. They are all interconnected in one way or the other and present a system in which a change in one factor will have an impact on other factors as well.
This article will disclose some proven tips on how you can maintain this balance and live a healthy life. It isn’t necessary to follow all the tips, all at once. If you gradually incorporate even a few of these tips into your lifestyle, your overall health will improve.
Tips to Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle:
1. Eat right
Diet is one of the most important parts of our lives as it aids in growth and maintenance of your body. Whatever we put in our body, our body is going to reflect back. Balance is the key to a healthy diet. The solution to a healthy diet is eating a variety of food groups and consuming all the food groups daily and in the right amount.
In each of your three healthy meals per day, you should focus on maintaining a healthy portion size for your body. You should also maintain a balance between the three macros: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Include a large amount of fruits and vegetables in your diet, choose whole grains instead of refined grains, and avoid artificial sweeteners, colors, and preservatives. Avoid overconsumption of fried, greasy, and pre-prepared food. Drink an adequate amount of water daily, as it will help to detoxify your body from all waste products, and can make you feel healthy and lively. You can also include healthy snacking options between the meals so that your cravings stay satisfied.
2. Eat fruits and vegetables
Add colors to your plate by adding more fruits and vegetables to it.
Fruits and vegetables are naturally filled with numerous vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and antioxidants, as well as gut-healthy fiber. Fiber helps to reduce the oxidative stress in our body, improves glycemic control, and maintains blood pressure.
Numerous studies have shown that consumption of fruits and vegetables can prevent you from getting chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, lower your risk of heart attack and strokes. Vegetables specifically have been found to reduce the onset of breast cancer.
People who tend to consume more fruits and vegetables are more health conscious, as they tend to avoid smoking and are more likely to exercise.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-fruit-good-or-bad-for-your-health#TOC_TITLE_HDR_5
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/14-healthiest-vegetables-on-earth
3. Add fatty fish
Fish contains high quality proteins and heart-healthy fats.
Research shows that fish not only reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease but also reduces the risk of dementia and depressive disorders. It takes care of both your mind and body and helps maintain the balance.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924977X03000324
https://www.bmj.com/content/325/7370/932
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16825676/
4. Stay hydrated
A number of studies have proven that even mild dehydration not only impacts your physical activity, kidney, metabolism, and gut health but also impacts your brain function by affecting your mood and energy level.
Make sure you consume an adequate amount of water, be it 8 glasses of water per day or a different amount. It’s one of the best and most simple things you can do to maintain your body and mind’s health.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5987390/
https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/142/2/382/4743487
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4325863/
http://www.inaactamedica.org/archives/2013/24448328.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3809630/
5. Avoid processed foods
Candy, sugary soda, and high fat fried foods should be avoided, as they impact your brain function and make you addicted to certain types of unhealthy food. Processed food interferes with the neurotransmitter dopamine, which will make you crave unhealthy food more, causing you to binge on unhealthy food again.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20495452/
6. Quit smoking and drugs
The habits of smoking and drinking alcohol also impact the body as well as the mind. So if you have this habit, it’s time to tackle the issue.
7. Get enough sleep
A good night’s sleep is as important as diet and exercise.
You may be unaware, but research indicates that people who sleep less are more likely to suffer from insulin resistance, leading towards diabetes, a disruption of your appetite hormone, leading to obesity, and reduced physical and mental performance.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10543671/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17969465/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10984335/
8. Meditate
Meditation helps produce a long-lasting effect in our life. It helps us to lower stress levels, to learn about our pain, to connect better, and to focus more. Even five minutes of meditation will help you feel more relaxed and stress free.
9. Set realistic goals
You should set goals that can be achieved more easily. Whether it is a goal to lose or gain weight, or to engage in 15 minutes of exercise daily, these goals should be realistic and achievable. You can also aim to improve socializing by setting goals to meet with your friends, take time for family, or take a morning walk in fresh air.
10. Exercise
Exercise is one of the most important parts of a healthy lifestyle, and works side by side with diet. Performing 20-30 minutes of exercise daily is crucial to physical health, muscle endurance, and a strong core.
Tips for Physical Health:
Covid-19 has reduced our level of physical activity and limits us to our homes. Being physically active has its own benefits, as it helps to boost our immune system, increase overall health, improve quality of life, slow the onset of aging, and prevent the onset of chronic diseases. In order to stop the spread of virus and maintain a healthy lifestyle more generally, we must not only uphold the CDC-provided standard operating procedures, but also perform physical activity.
This article will share some interesting tips to help you become physically active.
1. Exercising for 30 minutes per day
It is recommended by the World Health Organization to exercise for at least 30 minutes per day, 150-300 minutes per week. You can build your stamina by starting at 30 minutes and then increasing the time slowly and gradually as your stamina builds up. Once you have achieved the maximum benefit of an exercise routine, you have to increase difficulty to boost the pumping of your heart.
2. Physical activity guidelines
According to Australia’s physical activity and sedentary behavior guidelines:
- Something is better than nothing, so you should start by at least walking instead of lying on your sofa all day, and then build your program gradually.
- You should stay active every day, every week.
- Accumulate 150 to 300 minutes (2 ½ to 5 hours) of moderate intensity physical activity or 75 to 150 minutes (1 ¼ to 2 ½ hours) of vigorous intensity physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both moderate and vigorous activities, each week.
- Do muscle strengthening activities on at least two days each week.
3. Stretch to increase flexibility
You should stretch daily in order to increase flexibility and range of motion, as stretching helps loosen your tight muscles and will help your posture as well. Stretching helps in the circulation of blood flow in your muscles, and aids in increasing your physical activity.
Tips to Maintain Healthy Joints:
Joints help you to move, but as we age, our joints tend to become stiff. Your joints may begin to cause pain and immobility, which may impair your ability to walk properly. This article will share tips to maintain healthy joints and prevent age-related stiffening of the joints.
1. Maintain a Healthy Weight
If you have extra weight, you might want to shed some pounds to protect your joints. Extra pounds can cause strain on your weight-bearing joints such as your knees, ankles, hips, and back. In order to reverse this damage on your joints, you should reduce your weight to a healthy level. As mentioned above, you should eat right and maintain your physical activity in order to ensure the protection of your joints.
2. Stay in Motion
Avoid staying in one position for a very long time as it may cause stiffness in your joints. You should incorporate light activity in your lifestyle to avoid damaging your joints like walking, cycling, swimming, etc. This might help you in shedding some pounds as well. When performing any physical activity, you should also use protective gear to protect and support your joints.
3. Eat Right
Eating a healthy diet will help you to shed some weight, as well as keep you strong enough to protect your joints. You should consume vitamin D and calcium rich foods like dairy products and fortified food in your diet. Fish is also healthy to consume, as it contains omega-3 fatty acid, which helps reduce inflammation of your joints.
4. Maintain the Right Posture
The correct posture matters a lot as it will prevent extra stress on your joints. You should be attentive to your posture when sitting, standing, walking, and even lifting heavy bags.
Tips for Healthy Bones:
Maintaining your bone health is crucially important in keeping your body upright. Read further to learn more about some helpful tips to improve bone health.
1. Maintain a Healthy Diet
You should add two vital nutrients for your bones to your diet: Vitamin D and calcium. You should also add dairy products like cheese, yogurt, and milk, as well as non-dairy sources like fortified soy, rice beverages, and fish in order to get all the calcium you need. In addition, you should eat vitamin D rich food like milk, fortified orange juice, soya, rice beverages, fatty fish, margarine and egg yolk. Potassium, magnesium, and zinc (found in fruits and vegetables) should also be added to the diet to help the absorption of these two vital nutrients.
According to Canada Food Guide, people aged 2 years or above should drink 2 cups (500ml) of milk daily. Health Canada also recommends daily 400IU supplements of vitamin D for adults above 50 years of age.
2. Avoid Drinking Alcohol
Quit your drinking and smoking habit, as the high levels of caffeine affects the absorption of vitamin D and calcium. As discussed above, you need these nutrients to strengthen your bones.
3. Do Strength Training
As mentioned above, the World Health Organization recommends at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. Some of this exercise should be strength training, rather than more cardio-intensive activities. As with all forms of exercise, you can start lighter and build your strength training stamina gradually over time. Building strength and stamina will help you keep your bones strong.