8 Daily Habits That Improve Your Health

December 9, 2020 by Amy H 0 comments

Reading Time: 4 mins

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Here’s the deal: nutrition-related diseases cost our country up to $880 billion every single year. So if you want to save a ton of money on your annual healthcare bill, then it definitely doesn’t hurt to add these healthy habits to your daily routine.

Not sure how to get started?

To be completely honest with you, living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to be that hard. Make these daily habits part of your routine, and you’ll see improvement fast!

1. Get Enough Sleep

Believe it or not, simply getting enough shuteye can make a huge impact on your overall quality of life. As if that’s not enough, a recent study shows that sleeping for less than six hours a night can increase your risk of early death by a whopping 12%.

Yes, you read that, right!

Astonishingly enough, sleeping well is vital to your longevity over time. As a matter of fact, many essential physical and mental processes are hard at work while you are sound asleep. For instance, your brain processes emotions and experiences during the REM sleep cycle.

If your REM sleep cycle is interrupted, you can experience more severe mental issues like anxiety as well. Even worse, cytokines are also produced while you sleep, which can help your body fight several different diseases. So if you’re not getting enough Z’s, your immune functioning can be lowered as well.

2. Make Your Body Move

In case you didn’t know, hopping on the treadmill every once in a while can kickstart your body’s defense system. On top of this, staying active and fit can strengthen your immunity as well.

But that’s not all…

In addition to this, exercise is also an excellent stress reducer. That’s because tension can raise the amount of cortisol that your body can produce. While this stress-inducing hormone is great in small amounts, too much of it can make your body feel like it’s at war.

This can lead to unwanted side effects, such as:

Weight gain
Increased appetite
Elevated blood pressure

To avoid this, though, all you have to do is make your body move regularly!

3. Eat More Plant Protein

For those of you who are unaware, plants are full of something called phytonutrients. These nutrient-packed powerhouses can help improve your overall health like no other. In fact, this low risk, cost-effective intervention can lower everything from:

Body mass index
Blood pressure
Cholesterol levels

But if you have a history of elevated risk of stroke in your family, it can also be helpful to include fish in a pescatarian diet. The best part about eating more plant protein is that it can potentially reduce your risk of developing coronary heart disease too. How can you possibly beat that?

4. Eat Less Processed Meat

You might be shocked to find out that certain processed meat such as ham may not be as safe to eat as you previously thought. Surprisingly enough, consuming processed meats regularly can almost be as dangerous as smoking a cigar.

Naturally, red meats like pork and beef fall into this category of processed foods that may include carcinogens. It gets worse: consuming processed meat on the regular could also increase your risk of certain cancers as well. And nobody wants that, right?

5. Cut Back on Stress

As you may already know, your physical well-being can impact your emotional state as well. So if you have too much stress in your life from traumatic events or financial hardships, practicing healthy and holistic techniques like meditation and yoga might do the trick.

Sound too “whoo-whoo” for you?

That may be true, but there’s no denying that these stress reduction techniques can be exactly what you need to regain the relaxation that you deserve!

6. Cut Back on Booze

If you still think that drinking a whole bottle of red wine each night is good for you, then prepare for a rude awakening. Sadly enough, setting this misconception aside is the key to increasing your longevity. That’s because people who depend on alcohol regularly often have higher blood pressure rates.

On the bright side, all you have to do to reverse this is kick the bottle to the curb. If your heart isn’t enough to convince you, think about your neurotransmitters. Alcohol interacts with almost all of them, from glutamate to dopamine.

This explains why a glass of wine produces feelings of elation and relaxation. However, your brain begins to rely on this chemical response, which can lead to upping your daily intake and developing serious health problems in the long run.

7. Give Back and Volunteer

Here’s the thing: volunteers can live longer lives than those with less helpful behaviors. While it is easy to think that these differences come from more access to financial resources for philanthropists, even volunteers with a lower socioeconomic status can gain access to these health benefits as well.

8. Get Sustainable and Go Green

Also, getting sustainable and going green can expand your lifespan. Even doing something as small as switching to non-toxic cleaning products can limit your exposure to toxins in the environment that can cut years from your life.

Also, daily habits like biking or walking to your errands can count as exercise too. Overall, this can reduce your carbon footprint as well. Who wouldn’t want that?