Your life is really just a series of habits. So you might want to commit to bettering your health, your first have to either break or develop healthy habits.
Think of the habits that move the needle of your everyday health. For Cade, he does morning breathing exercises, pushups and air squats at the minimum, and timed eating. But what are you healthiest habits? We believe your healthy habits are the most important things you can do.
We asked Erin, one of our health coaches, what the top 10 things our patients do to get their health in check. Here’s what she learned.
Organization: creating a home and office environment that is clutter free.
Regular Exercise: having a routine in place. Create a daily exercise routine because it’s easier for you to be consistent, rather than try to build back up only on the weekends.
Eating Clean: remove gluten, dairy, soy, corn, sugar as much as possible.
Drink Water: surprisingly, a lot of us are running around dehydrated. If you’re feeling dehydrated, that means you’ve gone much too far. Remember to drink a nice big glass of water first thing in the morning to rehydrate after sleeping.
Have a Spiritual Practice: whether it’s spirituality or relaxation, have something that gets you in touch with your deeper self and what life is really about. Whether it’s meditation or prayer, spend some quiet time just with yourself.
Gratitude/Gratitude Journal: we want you to love the way you feel about your health. You can’t be negative and grateful at the same time. Every night at dinner, Regan and his family go through their “wins” of the day.
Plan/Prepare Meals Weekly: If you’re crunched for time in the morning, you’re either grabbing anything you can find out of your fridge, or you’re eating take out for lunch. Our team can help you create a meal plan, and give you a grocery list
Sleep: give yourselves an extra hour of sleep. If you’re getting 7 hours, try to get 8. If you’re getting 8, try to push it to 8.5 or even 9. Adjust your evening and morning rituals to help you get additional rest.
Relationships in Life: are your relationships healthy? If so, that can expand into your entire life. Relationships make your life meaningful. Make sure they are happy and healthy, and aren’t toxic relationships that drag on you.
Limit Social Media: constantly having our phones in our hands means that we often forget to be in the present. Don’t let your day revolve around getting likes on social media.
Here are the top 10 unhealthy habits we see in our patients.
Sleep Duration and Quality: people go to bed too late and we wake up too early. We don’t give ourselves proper time to sleep and get rested.
Not Enough Water Intake: we recommend keeping a water bottle with you all day. Start your day with a full glass of water. It will help you wake up, and it will rehydrate your body. Use a water tracker app on your phone to help you keep track.
Drinking Alcohol in Excess: alcohol works on oxytocin. It relaxes your body and it depresses your nervous system. A lot of us have our nervous system on hyperdrive all the time. When drinking a lot, we’re looking for the disconnect of the constant nervous system irritation. Insteady try different herbs, CBD, or try relaxation methods.
Consuming Too Much Sugar: we all know sugar isn’t the healthiest option for us to put into our body. A sweet here and there can be fine, but we often consume a lot of sugar in products we don’t suspect of containing it. Check your labels and try to cut back as much as possible.
Toxic Relationships: sometimes it’s hard to let go. And sometimes it’s necessary. Toxic relationships don’t build you up, they tear you down and add additional stress to your life.
Unhappy with Career/Hobbies: if everyday you are stressed or depressed about your jobs and hobbies, it’s time to rethink what you’re doing. You spend the majority of your waking life at your job. If you’re miserable there, that can bleed into your off time, making your life unhappy.
No Spiritual Practice: we live in a time of technology and constant entertainment. We often forget to just sit in the quiet and reflect. Spend some time in prayer or meditation or even spend time doing breathing exercises. Just set aside time each day to sit with yourself.
No Physical Activity Routine: once you break an exercise routine it can be hard to get back into the swing of things. Even if it’s simply talking a walk around your neighborhood in the morning or the evening, make sure you do it every day. A lot of us have desk jobs where we sit most of the day, which can be bad for our health. Get a fitness tracker, or a step counter and set a daily limit to reach.
No Meal Planning/Preparation: preparation for everything is important, but meal planning is something that is often overlooked. But planning your meals can be one of the biggest things you do to get yourself healthy.
Excessive Use of Technology: Technology and social media is great to keep in touch with others, but it can be full of negative posts and news highlights. And we can get too focused on having to post content to our feeds. Spend some time each day with your phone turned off or leave it at home for a while. Put it away before you go to bed. Make sure you aren’t staring into it right before you go to bed.