There is so much talk about self improvement these days and it seems many folks are looking for the next quick fix to help them feel better, look a certain way or improve an aspect of their lives. Often there is no such thing as a quick fix--or if there is--it's probably short lived and unsustainable. When it comes to improving your lifestyle (which can impact other areas of your life) it is actually easier to make small changes that will have a big impact on how you feel, and it all starts with you. Here are eight ways to improve your lifestyle, and to help you on your way to looking and feeling better.
Eight Easy Ways To Improve Your Lifestyle1. Get More Sleep As you may have guessed, getting a good night's sleep is actually one of the best ways to improve your lifestyle. It isn’t always about getting more sleep, sometimes it's about the quality of sleep that you get. For example, if your sleep suffers because you find yourself too hot (helloooooo menopause!) try a product like hot sleeper sheets. If you find your mind racing at night, consider winding down by writing your thoughts in a journal, drinking a cup of Sleepytime tea or use an app such as Calm, which features relaxation and meditation music, focus and study music, and sleep music channels. 2. Drink More Water Water is definitely a great way to improve your lifestyle and something we should be drinking more of each day. It is a natural detox that can help clear up your skin, improve your energy levels and mood swings and can even aid with sleep. If you can get into the habit of drinking more each day you will start to see massive improvements to how you look and feel. If you're wondering just how much water you need, enter your stats in the calculator below.
Water Intake Calculator
3. Exercise Often and Consistently
Everyone knows that exercise can help us to look and feel better. Even light to moderate, low impact exercises can be beneficial. Yoga, Tai Chi and my favorite old school Callanetics can help improve breathing, blood circulation and strength. Exercise benefits more than your body! This infographic shows how moving more can have emotional benefits, too.
4. Focus on your Mental Health
Speaking of mental health, your mindset can go unnoticed or with little attention due to other factors in your life but actually it is one of the most important ways to ensure that you have a healthier lifestyle. Your mind and what you think affect the everything you do, so a positive outlook on life can help improve things. This means focusing on things like your thought process, the language that you use and what you think. Trying to make sure that these words and thoughts are positive. It can feel forced at first but will soon develop into a habit. 5. Smile More Often It might sound pretty simple, but smiling is a great way to boost your mood and make someone’s day in the process. When you smile, your brain releases tiny molecules called neuropeptides to help fight off stress. Studies have shown that not only will smiling fight stress, but science has show that it can lift your mood, boost your immune system and possibly even prolong your life. And according to a study done in Sweden, when we see someone smile, we can't help but to smile back. So turn that frown upside down!
6. De-Kipple
"Kipple is useless objects, like junk mail or match folders after you use the last match or gum wrappers or yesterday's homeopape. When nobody's around, kipple reproduces itself ... the entire universe is moving towards a final state of total, absolute kippleization." ~ Philip K. Dick We all have kipple, and it could be wreaking havoc on our mental health! Check out this 6-part guide on the mind boosting benefits of having an organized home. 7. Eat A Better, More Balanced Diet What you put into your body is ultimately what you get out of it, so it's imperative that we take the time to ensure that we have a varied balanced diet. Dieting should never be about starving yourself of certain foods or crash or fad diets, it's about finding balance. A balanced diet gives you all of the nutrients (and macros) your body needs to function. The majority of your daily macros should come from fresh veg and fruit, whole grains, beans, nuts and lean protein, like beef, chicken and fish. Stay away from processed, pre-packaged food as they contain too much sodium and too little nutritional value.
8. Setting Goals and Achieving Them
Finally, there is nothing better than setting goals for yourself and working toward achieving them. This might be in the workplace, your personal life or just daily targets that you set for yourself, like drinking 8 glasses of water a day, or walking 10,000 steps. Each January, many of us make resolutions for the new year, but how many of us actually stick with them? Having big goals is great, but setting smaller, more attainable goals is much more reasonable. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
I hope that the above suggestions help you to improve your lifestyle. Do you have any others to add? Let me know in the comments below!
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