Three of the biggest components of health and wellness are exercise (or movement) sleep and nutrition so focusing on each of these is important in overall health and wellness. Today I’m sharing 7 tips to focus on the big three and implement them into your life in an easily manageable way.
Start With Small Habits
One of the most important tips for building new habits and routines is to start with small habits. Sometimes these small things sound silly at first, but they will help you build something sustainable over longer periods of time. Start by choosing one thing you would like to focus on. Don’t think broad and overarching here, I want you to get specific. For example; I don’t want you to say you want to sleep better, I want you to say something like I’m going to go to bed at 10pm every night. The more specific the easier it is to build a routine that will help you achieve that. From there you need to choose one small habit that will help you achieve that specific action. If you want to go to bed at 10pm every night then maybe your action is to start your wind down routine at 9:30pm. That’s it…leave it as simple as that. Once you have mastered that small habit you can add on to it, but make sure you are consistently completing the action before you start expanding and adding to it.
Create a Wind Down Routine
Creating a wind down routine is one of the best ways to help you prioritize good quality sleep. Most of us know that you should be getting 7-9 hours of sleep each night (and if you didn’t now you do), but it’s not just about getting enough sleep, it’s also about getting quality sleep. Creating a wind down routine can be a useful way to help improve and optimize the quality of your sleep as well as the quantity. Everyone’s wind down routines will look different but your routine might include things like washing your face, brushing your teeth, taking a shower, mindfulness, stretching, reading (from a book my friends), or other things. Relaxing activities like this can help prep your body for sleep which will only help improve your ability to function the next day!
Avoid Screens for One Hour Before Bed
I hate to say it, but your phone, computer, TV they are absolutely wrecking your sleep (and trust me when I say I’m guilty of all of these before bed as well). The blue light that is emitted by screens tricks your body into thinking that it’s daytime and that the sun is up with causes our body to produce less of our sleep promoting hormone, melatonin. When our body is producing less melatonin the drive to sleep doesn’t happen as strongly which keeps us awake longer. Ditching the screens for an hour before bed can drastically improve your sleep overall. For those of you who are saying, not a chance, never going to happen…if you must be on screens right up until bedtime try using some form of blue light blocker. These can come in the form of glasses but you can also get apps on your phones/computers that can block blue light as well. Using options like this isn’t a perfect solution, but it can help some.
Drink More Water
One of the easiest nutrition habits to start implementing daily is drinking more water. Ideally, the average person should be drinking about half their body weight in ounces of water each day. If you are very active, exercising or spending time in the heat then it’s likely more than that. Try carrying a water bottle with you when you are out and about or at work and odds are just by having it close to you, you will drink more. I also like to recommend if you struggle to drink water try drinking from a straw…it sounds kind of silly, but most people do drink more when they are drinking from a straw (this is probably why things like the Stanley water bottles are so popular)!
Add A Vegetable At One Meal
I think we can all agree that we probably need to each more vegetables. Instead of setting a crazy goal of eating a ton more vegetables try just adding a vegetable at one meal or snack that you are not currently eating a vegetable at. Remember that small habits build sustainable habits. You can work to build on this over time, but adding a vegetable to one more is typically doable for most people, more so than trying to add 5 additional servings of vegetable so start with one meal or snack and you can build from there.
Find Movement You Enjoy
If there is one thing that I can recommend if you are looking at adding fitness into your journey it’s finding something that you enjoy. Again, most people know that they should be more active but many people struggle to stay consistent. If you are looking to implement movement you need to be doing something that you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy it (at least somewhat) the odds of you sticking with it long term is very minimal. If you aren’t sure what you enjoy start trying some different activities and keep a record of how you feel during and after them. There are so many different ways to move that don’t involve going to the gym. Try classes, go for a walk, create a workout at the park, take your kids outside and play games like tag or soccer. Don’t think that movement always has to happen in a gym (of course it can if that’s what you like, but you can also get creative with how you get up out of the chair or off the couch).
Create A Realistic Fitness Plan
Another thing that people struggle with when it comes to creating a fitness routine is they think that they have to be in the gym 5 or 6 days a week. If you are able to do that consistently, I’m not going to stop you, but for a lot of people this isn’t something that’s super realistic or manageable. It’s important when starting to implement fitness into your life that you are setting yourself up for success so if 2 days a week is all you can manage then start with that. For a lot of people when they start to see and feel the benefits of it they will naturally want to add more, but it doesn’t have to be anything crazy to start. Realistic and manageable is absolutely key.
What tip are you going to implement today? Choose just one and start with that…once you master it add something else and work at building a healthy sustainable life centered around the big three components of overall health and wellness!
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