Would you like to change your lifestyle so you can live a more illness-free and healthy life?
You probably already know that changing your diet and exercise routine are part of that, but after that, you may be drawing a blank as to what else you can do. There are a few daily healthy habits you can start doing to help keep you illness-free.
Here are a few of the healthy habits that you may not have considered, or may not have thought about…
Meditation
You may think that meditation sounds odd for a daily habit that reduces illness, but the truth is, meditation can have a direct connection to your overall health. Meditation, which can be done in many forms, helps your body to slow down. It helps you to focus on root issues and find ways to handle those issues so they don’t get out of hand. It allows you to calm down from daily issues such as problems with your children, work, or just things that are upsetting you. It is a time to reflect and to focus on your overall emotional health.
When you don’t deal with these emotional and mental issues, you cause your body to become tense and stressed. This tension and stress can increase your blood pressure, cause headaches, and lead to your immune system breaking down. Simple daily meditation habits can help reduce that and increase an illness-free lifestyle.
And if meditation as you’ve come to know it isn’t your thing, try simply talking to yourself, or praying, or just sitting quietly and allowing yourself to relax.
If you do give meditation a try, just know there is no way to get it “wrong”. Too often folks don’t meditate because they aren’t sure of the “right” way to do it. Bottom line is that there is no “right” way to meditate. Whatever works for you is the best approach.
Journaling
You may hear the word journaling and immediately cringe. It does bring to mind the idea of daily journal entries that become tedious or because it is the “right” thing to do. The truth is, you can journal in a number of ways, including video journaling.
The reason journaling works to help keep illness at bay is because of what journaling is supposed to do. It has a direct connection to stress levels and can reveal stress inducing instances and people to you that you may not think of as an issue.
For example, if you are feeling anxiety and you have worked through the normal checklist of suspects, journaling can help you narrow down the others. By working through a journaling process on a daily process, you will find yourself able to rant, able to release stress, and able to figure out what may be causing undue stress so you can remove it. The reduced stress means a calmer body and mind, which means your body works at a more efficient level and your immune system is healthy and able to fight off illness.
There are so many ways to journal so discover what is right for you. Do you like to write pages and pages and rant and rant to get things out of your head and off your chest? Do you simply want to express your gratitude for the day? Perhaps writing just a line or two is sufficient for you. Seek out journals like “The 5-Minute Journal” to see if this approach is good for you.
Hydration
(Is he going to talk about drinking more water AGAIN? Yep!)
You may have a great meditation, journaling, workout routine, and diet routine. You may think that you have it all figured out, but if you are still getting sick, you may be missing the biggest link to reducing that illness. If your hydration is off, you could be causing stress within your body and organ system.
Your body needs water to work properly, and no, drinking coffee, soda or juice does not cover it. If you have everything else covered and you are still getting ill, try to increase your water intake. You can do this with several methods, including gallon jug marking and apps that are designed to remind you to drink water.
If you find yourself just feeling tired and even grumpy toward the end of the day, it could be that you just haven’t been drinking enough water. Drink up and see if you fee better.
By applying these simple, but powerful, habits to your daily routine, you’ll start to notice that your immune system seems to be stronger and you seem to get sick at a reduced rate. Keep in mind that a lot of the healthy habits you take on have nothing to do with eating or supplements and more to do with keeping your mind and emotions as healthy as everything else.
Publisher of Great Living Today, your one-stop source for greater living featuring tips, techniques, and programs in the areas of health & wellness, wealth, time management, business, love, relationships, and happiness. Marty is a life, business, and wellness coach helping his clients to live their best lives.