Our world has become an unhealthy one. With the cost of healthy food products and gym memberships rising, while wages stagnate, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the average person to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Or so people like to think.
Improving your health isn’t just about your diet and working out at the gym. There are a lot of little changes you can make to your daily routine that will drastically improve both your mental and physical health. And you don’t need to break the bank to do any of these either!
1.) Start Playing Puzzle Games
Working out your mind is just as important as working out your body. Your brain is a muscle that needs to be stimulated beyond your normal daily routine. Which is why you should start incorporating different puzzle games into your schedule. Spending as little as ten minutes a day doing a puzzle has been proven to help keep your mind sharp and healthy.
Doing something as simple as a crossword puzzle or a round of word wipe has been proven to improve memory recollection and engage your logical thinking skills. While games like Sudoku or Mahjong are great at sharpening your spatial reasoning and numeracy abilities. Websites like Arkadium and Crazy Games are great gaming websites to use. You can find all the classic puzzle games like Mahjong and Word Wipe at Arkadium while Crazy Games is home to a wealth of unique puzzle games like Hexa Sort and Box It Up.
2.) Daily Stretching Routine
Stretching is something that people assume is only needed before or after a workout session. But this isn’t true. Incorporating a brief stretching routine into your daily schedule will improve your health in a number of ways.
The primary benefit is improved circulation and blood flow around the body. This will increase your energy levels and help elevate your mood. Stretching regularly is also great for improving and maintaining your posture. If you are someone who spends a lot of time sitting at a desk then you definitely want to start stretching in the morning. We recommend doing at least ten minutes of stretching to really get the benefits.
3.) Practice Breathwork
People don’t often think about how they are breathing. It is one of our most natural bodily functions. Happening on automatic. But chances are you aren’t breathing as effectively as you could be. Breathwork is the practice of controlling and improving your breathing habits to improve your overall wellbeing.
Breathwork has been proven to decrease high blood pressure, help stabilize your mood and reduce stress, and can even improve your memory and focus. There are a number of different breathwork techniques out there for you to try. The main idea is to make your breathing more intentional and controlled. Doing ten to twenty minutes of breathwork throughout the day will vastly improve your health.
4.) Start A Journal
Journaling is a great way to improve your memory recollection skills while also helping reduce stress and anxiety. A lot of therapists encourage their clients to journal every day. Writing down your thoughts and feelings has been proven to help alleviate irrational negative thoughts and help people improve their focus.
5.) Cut Down On Sugar
This one might seem obvious but is one of the hardest to do in this day and age. With so many products being chock full of sugar. But the health benefits of reducing your sugar intake are drastic. Lower risk of diabetes and heart disease. Sugar has been linked to a number of mental health problems such as depression. Even doing something as small as having your morning coffee without sugar is a great place to start.
6.) Fix Your Sleeping Habits
Everyone knows sleep is an important aspect of maintaining your overall health. But it isn’t just about how long you sleep for. You need to be getting quality sleep. And many of our daily habits impact this.
You should avoid looking at any screen for up to an hour before you plan to sleep. And avoid caffeine for up to eight hours before you go to bed. Using an eye mask and ear plugs has also been proven to improve sleep quality.
7.) Read More
Nothing is better for keeping your mind sharp and improving your mood than reading. Be it fiction or non-fiction. Reading isn’t just for learning or for fun though. Studies have shown that reading affects our bodies physically too. It can help reduce muscle tension and even reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.