If living healthy in 2022 (and beyond) is your goal, it requires committing to eating well, getting regular exercise, and getting enough sleep every day. The benefits of health and healthy living are greater than the sum of the parts. By taking a healthy approach to living, you’re likely going to be sick less often, require less medical and mental-health attention, have a higher quality of life, and generally be happier.
According to the World Health Organization, a fully grown adult requires 120 minutes of vigorous activity every week, 7-9 hours of sleep, eliminates stress from our lives, and should eat a plant-based diet.
In our fast-paced, frenetic lives, it’s easy to lose sight of taking care of our physical and mental health, which is why it’s crucial to have a disciplined approach toward your wellbeing. When we’re busy, we tend to be stressed more, and when we’re stressed, we tend to make “fight or flight” decisions that address a short-term issue.
For example, when you’re overwhelmed with work and life comes at you hard, it’s easy to grab the nearest food to satiate your hunger when you’re hungry. Often the problem is that the food you have just eaten is less healthy than if you took the time to plan out a nutritious meal. It’s a coping mechanism, in other words, and while it may resolve a short-term problem, it may lead to long-term consequences.
Healthy Living Tips
Healthy living is a combination of eating the suitable types of vegetables, fruits, and proteins and getting vigorous exercise and adequate sleep.
Your Diet: What you eat matters in providing the right amount of energy for your activities and aiding your body in fighting disease and slowing the aging process. Foods high in salt or sugar, commonly found in processed foods, have also been shown to increase the risk of heart attacks and some cancers.
Instead, consider a protein-rich diet followed up with plenty of vegetables. Protein is the building block of muscle and energy and is vital to life. Sources of protein content vary by animal protein, beans and legumes, and even some grains.
Water: Drinking enough water is often overlooked. People tend to substitute water for sports drinks that often are high in sugars or salts, which can cause a dehydration effect which is the opposite of what you want. Drinking water helps the body regulate temperatures, control appetite, replenish muscles and vital organs, and helps with maintaining stress.
Exercise: Exercise is any activity that elevates the heart rate and increases your respiration. It can include low-impact activities such as walking, hiking, yoga, gardening, and other activities. Ideally, an adult will have at least 120 minutes of vigorous activity every week, but 175 minutes of low-impact exercise is recommended if that is not possible. Other types of activities to consider include some of the following:
- Biking
- Running
- Swimming
- Canoeing/Kayaking
- Mountain Climbing
- Martial Arts
- Weight Lifting
Sleep More Than You Think: People tend to think that you should get the bare minimum because you can get by on 5-6 hours of sleep a day. This thinking is not healthy. Sleep helps the body heal and regenerate itself and helps powerful balance neurochemicals in the brain associated with focus, memory, and moods.
The CDC recommends that grown adults sleep up to 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep nightly to achieve optimal health. Ideally, you’d establish a sleep pattern of preparing for sleep at the same time to wake up. This process will establish a natural rhythm to your rest, known as your circadian rhythm.
The perfect sleep environment is a cool, dark room with the external temperature being approximately 68℉ and avoiding caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and devices that emit blue lights like a cell phone or tablet for an hour before bed is also recommended.
Living a long-healthy life includes the lack of genetics, having an active lifestyle, getting plenty of sleep, and eating a balanced diet. You can’t control your genetic makeup, but you can handle the types of things you eat, the amount of sleep you get, and whether or not you get up off the couch and get some exercise.
Careers To Help Others Live Well
People that tend to have a set discipline and see results from that disciple are prone to want to help others. As you live a healthier lifestyle, you may begin to think about ways you can assist others in living well. There are multiple benefits to working in careers to help others live well. Most are well-paying jobs that provide a lot of job satisfaction and provide an outlet for you to share your knowledge of living well.
Nurse: Nursing is a career that has a number of different applications. You can choose to be a resident nurse, certified nursing assistant (minimal schooling required), or even consider travel nursing jobs that allow you the flexibility of moving around from city to city and hospital depending on needs at each location. Often a travel nurse job pays better than a fixed position and allows for more variation in the job, but you have to be willing to uproot yourself as jobs become available.
Doctor: Of course, the premier position in the medical field is a doctor. If you’ve got the discipline and determination to do the necessary schooling, a position as a private doctor can be advantageous.
Therapist: Therapist is a broad descriptor for all sorts of positions that help others. You can be in therapy for mental health, relationships, or physical therapy, whether from injury, surgical recovery, or more.
Personal Nutritionist: Helping others to make a better decision on the amounts and types of foods that are best for their health is the role of a nutritionist. Just as no two people are the same, neither are two people’s nutritional needs precisely identical. Therefore, a personal nutritionist will be able to analyze and educate a client on their dietary needs.
Personal Trainer: Helping people exercise, stay motivated, and grow in their exercise understanding is the role of a personal trainer. From celebrities to professional athletes and homemakers, providing personal training can assist people in maintaining their fitness needs and goals.
A combination of living well and helping others will produce a fulfilling, happy life. All it takes to live well is making the small decision followed by action to exercise, eat well, and get sleep.
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