Posted on May 21st, 2017

Living a healthy life doesn’t just mean eating well and keeping fit it is a lifelong commitment. Of course diet and exercise play a huge role but so does managing stress and getting good quality sleep. If my opinion these are the main keys to living a healthy life.

Hydrate

Yes I mean water, lots of it! Water is so important for so many reasons. First reason being it keeps us hydrated but what does that actually mean?

Every cell, tissue and organ in the body requires water to work effectively. We are about 70% water and it’s nearly impossible for someone to survive more than 3-5 days without water. Water is required for digestion, absorption, circulation and excretion. It is also required for the transportation of nutrients, growth, repair and development as well as maintaining body temperature, therefore SUPER IMPORTANT!

Diet

Most people understand that we need to eat fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, nuts/seeds and wholegrains to be healthy. We hear it on the news, Facebook, at school and from family and friends but why is it just so important? And if it’s so important why isn’t everyone doing it?

Food provides us with vitamins, minerals and nutrients that our bodies need to be able to support all activities including; creating new cells, repairing muscles, providing energy to wake up and get out of bed in the morning and ability to be able to think and learn plus so much more. When we fail to eat nutritious food our mind does not see clearly, we make poor decisions, we are at risk of various medical conditions and our body fails to be able to repair or detoxify itself. Over a long period of time this can be extremely detrimental and we often see people being diagnosed with a range of different conditions because of this.

Stress

Stress is something we all experience in our lives, however it is how we handle such stress that deems it healthy or unhealthy. Stress can be negative (fear or injury) or positive (love and excitement). It is how our body handles and copes with the stressors whether it be physical mental, social or emotional that is important.

Those who are negatively impacted by stressful situations/events can find themselves experiencing the following symptoms: fatigue; chronic headaches; irritability; changes in appetite; memory loss; low self-esteem; withdrawal; teeth grinding; cold hands; high blood pressure; shallow breathing; nervous twitches; lowered sexual drive; insomnia or other changes in sleep; and gastrointestinal disorders. Often long periods of intense stress leads to adrenal exhaustion which often results in many having breakdowns which then takes a significant amount of time to address and recorrect.

Sleep

Sleep is important for many different reasons, from mental and physical health, to your quality of life and safety. When you are sleeping your brain and body is restoring and preparing you for a new day. Without quality sleep your hormones become unbalanced, the body cannot repair any damage to its heart and blood vessels, muscles and tissues cannot repair, your immune system becomes compromised, and brain function is not as sharp. Over a long period, sleep deprivation can lead to chronic health conditions.

Move

By move I mean literally mean move. Any form of movement such as walking is great for our overall health. Essentially we want to aim to move our bodies 30 minutes each day to get our blood pumping. Exercise benefits us in so many ways including; improving circulation, reducing our risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and other mild to chronic conditions, improves our brain function, reduces stress, and supports our mood and hormones.

You need to find some sort of movement that you enjoy whether this be a short walk before or after work, going to gym or doing a yoga class or another group fitness class. Doing something you don’t enjoy can actually cause your more stress and can do more harm than good.

If you require any assistance with adopting a healthy long term diet, sleep or stress, nutritional medicine can be very effective. Please feel free to contact me to discuss further on how I can help you 🙂 https://www.good4younutrition.com.au/services/