As it’s now 2020, this is the time to have a fresh start. The habits your form over your lifetime have a deep impact on your mental and physical health. It’s important to set specific goals at the beginning of the year to ensure a positive experience. It is finally time to do things right, for your own betterment. If you feel that you need some change in your life, it’s helpful to make a list of the things you want to see improve. About forty five percent of our reported activities in a day are carried out without much thought. Habits allow us to essentially function in the world. To maintain the balance between work, personal, and social aspects, it’s important to establish healthy habits. Now, I will outline some healthy habits you can easily incorporate into your life.
Sleep
Sleep plays such an important role in maintaining good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting the right amount, and proper quality of sleep can strengthen your mental and physical health. As you sleep, your body works to support healthy brain function. For children and teens, sleep also contributes to growth and development. In order to properly function through the day, and efficiently use your time, it’s vital to get at least 7 to 9 hours each night.
This will heavy have an impact on all the other area of your life. To ensure a good night’s sleep, you can form a night time routine that involves a period of relaxing, so your body knows when its time to go to sleep. This could be taking a nice warm bath, listen to music, or read a book. Also, it may be helpful to limit day sleeping to less than 30 minutes, as it may prevent you from achieve your sleep goal at night.
Self-Care
It’s quite easy to get caught up with whatever is going on in our lives. This is why it’s necessary to find some time for yourself. Self-care is important for the mind, soul and overall health. Practicing self-care can free you from stress so you’re able to take on your challenges with much more strength. It can be a fun spa day, a nice day in, writing, reading, spending time with a loved one, or meditation. Whatever activity makes you feel at ease.
Unplug yourself
As mentioned before, it is so easy to get caught up with everything that is going on in the world. This often leads us to forgetting to take a few moments just to breathe. With such amazing advances in modern technology, it is hard to disconnect. Sometimes the personal interactions are more important than the fake virtual reality online. Your phone tends to take so much time out of your life, and you could really use that time to take a break from life for a little.
It is highly recommended to limit the use of electronics everyday. Even though your job may consist of you using various technologies during the day, you can take the night to unwind and putting away your phone or laptop.
Positive Mindset
Among the various healthy habits to incorporate in your life, positivity is a big one. Positive thinking has been linked to improving one’s overall happiness. One way to adopt a positive mindset is to note down the things you are grateful for on a regular basis. Stress from your job or general responsibilities may prevent us from remembering the greater things in life. It is vital for you to remind yourself of all the blessings in your life. Meditation can also be a way to influence your way of thinking; it improves mindfulness and positive thinking. Scientifically, it has proved to decrease illness and instill feelings of purpose in life after a short consistent period of time.
Eat Right
One of the most obvious healthy habits one can pick up on is to start eating healthy. It is essential to make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need to keep the body and mind running. With the amount of junk food readily available for us on the go, eating right has become such a task. But it is something that needs to be incorporated in all of our lives. Although it may take extra time to go home and prepare your meal rather than stopping by the nearest drive-thru, in the long term it is highly beneficial.
If you’re a nurse and work 12 hours shifts multiple times a week, it may help to use your day off to prep your meals in advance. You can plan out your week and take a few hours in one day to make containers for the rest of the remaining days. This way you’ll be able to track your food intake more accurately and feel good about yourself. It’s also important to remember that it is okay to indulge once in a while. But carrying out a well balanced diet is a healthy habit that will overall make you feel good about yourself.
So these were some beneficial habits that I thought can be easily incorporated into your life to start the year off with a bang. Being consistent with them activities is a major key. As they say, it takes 21 days to form a habit, and 90 days to turn the habit into a lifestyle.