What Does It Mean To “Live Healthier”?
Being “healthy” is something that we all want, but do we know what that is?
Some people think it’s to live longer and while that is the long-term goal, being healthy is also beneficial for you in your every day life.
That’s why it should be your number one goal to be healthier; it’s your health that is the foundation of what you do every day.
Whether it’s going to work, taking care of children, or studying hard, you need your body to be performing at it’s very best so you can be living your very best.
What Are The Benefits To Living Healthier?
Here are the benefits of living a healthier life:
- You have more energy – get more active and feel like you’re at your peak physical performance
- You feel less pain – say goodbye to chronic pains like back and joint pain, your body can heal itself a lot faster
- You get sick less often – your immune system is strong enough to fight off most bacteria and pathogens
- Your brain works faster – you can remember things better and your mind feels much sharper
We often forget that we need to take care of our bodies to get them to work at their very best. When it comes down to priorities, your health should always come first.
In the next section, we’ll be discussing ways that you can start living healthier.
How Do I Live Healthier?
These are some of the few things you can do that will help you improve your health:
- Exercise daily
- Drink more water
- Sleep better
- Get more nutrients
We’ll be going more in-depth about each point and what you can do to incorporate that into your life.
Exercise daily
Exercise can improve your life in more ways than one.
Not only can exercise can help you maintain healthy body weight by burning extra calories, but it can also improve your mood. When you do physical activity, your brain releases chemicals called endorphins which trigger a positive feeling in your body.
Exercise can also help you build muscle strength and increase your endurance for more energy. It improves your cardiovascular system so your heart and lungs are working better in your daily life.
Another effect of daily exercise is that it can reduce the biomarkers of aging. This determines how well your body will function later on in life. With even just 10 minutes of exercise a day, it can contribute to better eyesight, regular blood pressure, more lean muscle, lower cholesterol, and better bone density for you in the future.
So get up and find a physical activity that you enjoy to get you moving and exercising just a little bit every day.
Drink more water
Water is an important element that your body needs to help it function. It plays a key role in bodily processes like digestion, absorption, circulation, saliva production, nutrient transportation, and temperature maintenance. You constantly replenish the water in your body through pure water itself, liquids, and food.
Your body composition includes about 60% water and you lose water every day from sweating, bathroom breaks, and even breathing. When your body loses more water than it takes in, you can get dehydrated which affects how your body functions.
Not only can drinking water help you maintain your body’s fluid balance, but it can help control calories. Food with higher water content, such as fruits and vegetables, are more filling and lower calorie, so you can feel satisfied with less food.
Muscle fatigue can occur when you’re dehydrated during exercise. If you’re sweating a lot during exercise, you want to make sure you’re drinking enough water to replenish it. That way your muscle cells get enough fluids and you can be at your top physical performance.
There’s no clear cut rule to how much water you should drink a day but if you’re feeling thirsty, drink water. You should also make sure to drink water when you’re exercising or when the weather is hot to replenish lost fluids.
Sleep better
Check out our Sleep Better page for more information on how to get a better night’s sleep.
It’s pretty common knowledge that not getting enough sleep can affect your morning the next day. Your brain feels foggy and it’s difficult to remember things, and you feel weak and lethargic all day.
Research shows that getting good quality sleep regularly can help you improve many issues in your body.
Getting better sleep can help give you more energy in your mind and body. When you sleep, your body has time for muscle repair to help build muscle strength. Your brain also benefits from sleep by processing new information and storing memories for faster recall later on.
Sleep can also affect your weight. If you’re not getting enough sleep, it affects the hormones in your brain that control appetite. Being sleep-deprived can make you crave more food during the day and cause you to overeat. That’s why sleep helps regulate those hormones and keep your weight in check.
For the best health benefits, you should try getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night.
Get more nutrients
There are two types of nutrients: macronutrients and micronutrients.
Macronutrients are carbohydrates, proteins, and fats that help your body produce energy to go about your daily life. Your body does this by using that energy to power bodily processes as well as strengthen and maintain tissues, organs, and bones.
Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals. They’re a lot smaller than macronutrients but that doesn’t mean they are less important. Vitamins and minerals play many key roles in your body’s functions such as strengthening bones, healing wounds, boosting your immune system, and more.