Healthy habits to start now
It's always a good time to start healthy habits!
There's a lot of research that shows how habits are what fill most of our day. Why not make them healthy habits!?!?
1. Drink more water
I'm starting with this one for good reason. This is the most important one and probably the easiest to implement. It will truly make the biggest impact on your health and ability to be more productive physically and emotionally. You'll find that the ideal amount of water we should drink is half our body weight in ounces of water per day. For example, if I weigh 150 pounds, I should drink 75oz of water everyday.
2. Go to bed earlier
Getting more sleep will help your focus and productivity during the day. The amount of sleep will largely depend on your age. Adults should be getting around 8 hours of sleep a night. Their bed time routine is similar to children's in that it's actually good to have a set bed time routine. It should prepare your mind and start relaxing your muscles in preparation for a restful sleep. This might look very different to a lot of us, but two of the things that are NOT recommended to be part of our bed time routine is scrolling on our screens (any screens! phone, tablet, TV) and avoiding caffeine within a few hours of bed time. The sleep times I personally have found that work well with my schedule is 10:00pm - 6:00am. Now go to bed!!!!
3. Move your body at least 30 minutes every day
Moving your body 30 minutes will look different for everyone and it might look different for you on a daily basis. Moving your body could also be known as exercise or working out. It could also look like for some a walk around the neighborhood, a dance party with your kids, swimming laps at the pool, a bike ride with your family, a run with your running club, yoga or spin class, lifting weights or getting together with your spouse. ;) It doesn't matter what you're doing, just MOVE!!
3. Stretch
Most people don't stretch on a regular basis. Even those of us that exercise regularly don't give ourselves time to do any sort of stretching. Stretching first thing in the morning can really open up our bodies for good blood flow. We can also benefit from stretching for little breaks during the day when we've been sitting at work or school for long periods of time. If you need ideas of good, easy, simple, targeted stretches just check out YouTube. There are SO many free videos and trainers that you can follow to get more ideas or change up your routine!!
4. Spend time outside
Think of this as our recess time from when we were in grade school. Time outside is for us to get some fresh air and vitamin D from the sun. We of course need to also remember to wear sunscreen when spending long periods of time outside to protect our skin from sun damage. When you go outside you can go for a walk, play on the playground with your kids, play fetch with your dog, have a picnic on a blanket or park, or color the sidewalk with your little ones.