We all want to be happy and healthy. This is completely normal. But are you actively working towards improving and then maintaining your health and happiness daily? If you’re not, then it’s time to get started.
Your health and happiness take time to improve and to then maintain. So, it’s a project that you’re going to have to actively work on – day in and day out. It doesn’t have to be a chore. Instead, you simply need to make sure to work and focus on your day to day routine. Here are a few steps you can take to achieve this goal.
Maintaining Your Health And Happiness: Tip #1 Prioritise Your Mental Health
It’s only in recent years that many of us have started to take our mental health seriously. In the past, mental health has often been a topic that comes hand in hand with social stigma and taboo. There are various reasons for this, but it mostly falls down to lack of knowledge and misunderstanding.
Luckily, thanks to scientific and medical progression, people becoming more open about their mental health. So, it is now better understood and accepted.
How To Achieve Better Mental Health
As a result, more of us are working to understand our mental health and seeking to manage it. If you feel that you are struggling with your mental health, then it is important to take action. Concerns and issues aren’t something that you simply have to live with. Plus, they rarely improve if you try to ignore them or sweep them under the carpet. The following steps can help you manage your mental health well.
- Recognise issues – if you are concerned about your mental health, it’s important to recognise issues. Make sure to reach out to a doctor or health professional. They will discuss what you’re experiencing and can diagnose any conditions you may be experiencing. Plus, they can provide further support, such as providing medication, referring you to therapy or both.
- Seek support – remember that you are not alone if you’re struggling with your mental health. There are plenty of sources of support out there. Such as, one to one counselling, support groups, helplines and mental health charities. There will be an option that suits you as an individual.
- Avoid negative influences – some of us find that certain triggers can cause us distress in our lives. Try to avoid these wherever possible. For instance, these can be groups of people who encourage poor behaviour. Or maybe you feel overwhelmed by social media and need to find how to delete instagram or other platforms. You may find that a bad habit is becoming too much. So you need to quit whatever it is you’re doing.
Health And Happiness Go Hand-in-Hand. When You Get Both Right You Create A Balanced Lifestyle.
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Maintaining Your Health And Happiness: Tip #2 Avoid Extremes
When people decide to lead a healthy lifestyle, they tend to turn to extremes. We’re often guilty of indulging in junk food, doing too little exercise and generally not looking after ourselves. Then, when we switch to improving our health we go to the other extreme–over exercising and eating a restricted diet.
Extreme habits include:
- Being overly strict with your calorie count.
- Cutting out out entire food groups.
- Forcing yourself to exercise every day.
- Exercising for hours daily.
These types of habits are not sustainable. You need to avoid such extremes and create a balanced lifestyle that you can genuinely stick to. So, it’s okay for you to eat a takeaway or skip the gym every now and then. What’s important is that you’re eating well and getting enough movement into your routine most of the time.
Maintaining Your Health And Happiness: Tip #3 Find Exercise You Enjoy
The average adult should exercise for between 75 to 150 minutes of each week. But, the issue with this is that many people see it as a chore due to them doing forms of exercise they don’t enjoy. However, finding exercise you enjoy will motivate you to exercise. You may even look forward to exercising.
Given this, it’s recommended that you experiment and try a few different types exercise to find one you like. Some popular options include:
- The gym
- Personal training
- Fitness classes
- Weight lifting
- Cycling
- Dance
- Pole fitness
- Swimming
- Team sports
Maintaining Your Health And Happiness: Tip #4 Eat Well
A balanced diet can make all the difference to your health and wellbeing. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you have to survive on salads and smoothies to be healthy. Instead, you can eat well and eat foods you enjoy.
You just need to make sure that you’re sticking within your recommended calorie count. Also, it’s recommended that your meals and snacks are balanced. So, you don’t need to cut out carbs, sweets or chocolates. You can eat these. However, you just need to keep them in moderation.
These areas of focus should help when it comes to maintaining your health and happiness. Give them a try.
Maintaining Your Health And Happiness: Key Takeaways
- Prioitise your mental health
- Avoid extremes
- Find exercise you enjoy
- Eat well
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