Long-term approaches to healthy living are the best way for you to maintain your health over time, and it’s not just about what you eat. You need a holistic approach to your lifestyle if you want to have success in this endeavor. That means taking care of all aspects of your life, such as diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, and spirituality, to optimize health.
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Long-Term Approaches to Healthy Living
1. Frequent Exercise
Generally, when you exercise, your heart rate increases to provide more oxygen and glucose to the muscles. This helps them repair faster so they can perform better during exercise. It also causes an increase in serotonin levels which are responsible for mood stabilization and feelings of happiness. Exercise is a great way to feel good about yourself while tuning up your body!
2. Macrobiotic Diet
A macrobiotic diet is a lifelong, whole-foods based diet that includes mainly grains and vegetables with little beans and fruit. If you are new to this way of eating, you may want to consider SHI macrobiotics to help you stick to this diet.
Start by reducing meat intake or eliminating it for several weeks before adding in other foods like legumes and root vegetables. The main goal of the macrobiotic diet is to eat foods in their natural state and balance yin (cooling) with yang (heating). You want more vegetables, beans, grains, and cold-pressed oils than animal products.
3. Quality Sleep
When you sleep, your body has time to repair and regenerate the cells in your organs and clean out toxins. Sleep also reduces anxiety by lowering stress hormones like cortisol.
The general recommendation is that adults between 18-64 years of age should get an average of seven hours of sleep per night, but this amount can vary depending on age.
Sleep is a crucial part of health and well-being, so make sure you get enough! If you have trouble sleeping at night, try to limit the amount of light in your bedroom using blackout curtains or an eye mask before bedtime. Also, make sure there aren’t any TVs or computers on as these can cause stress and make it more difficult to sleep.
4. Improve Your Mental Health
Mental illness can affect anyone, but it is most common in the 18-25-year-old age group. Your mental health includes your mood, energy level, and ability to function on a daily basis.
The key factors that contribute to mental health are genes and lifestyle choices like diet, exercise, and sleep patterns. Stress management can also make a big difference in how well your mental health is doing.
The most important thing to remember for maintaining good mental health is that it can be easy to do! Try practicing mindfulness, reducing stress, and finding ways to have fun every day, so you feel happier with life overall.
5. Steer Clear of Tobacco
The best ways to steer clear of tobacco are avoiding secondhand smoke, stopping smoking, and staying away from anyone who smokes.
If you want help quitting, talk with your doctor about a proper plan. They may even have different options like nicotine replacement therapy or medication-assisted treatment, which work for other people.
Approaches to Healthy Living
Using these approaches to healthy living can change your life for the better. The positive changes won’t be short-term, either, as these benefits will follow you throughout your entire life.
Leave a comment and let me know if there’s anything you would add to this list!
