How To Live a Healthy Life and Feel Like a Million Bucks
A gentle reminder about the guidelines for healthy living that we sometimes forget.
Health is wealth
Your health is your greatest asset. Without good health, you are unable to function optimally and you start to incur expenses towards attaining good health. This is why it is important to protect and promote your health at all costs.
Good health is the difference between feeling like a million bucks, and feeling like insufficient funds.
Knowledge is power
To protect and promote your health, you need to know what to do and what to avoid. The measures we have to follow to maintain and promote good health seem pretty simple and basic. Having knowledge of these best practices for your health is your key to unlocking the superpower of good health.
Habit is everything
We are what we repeatedly do. Knowing is just one step. Putting knowledge into practice consistently is where the magic lies. If you ever wonder how some people do it, this is it. They follow good health principles and practice them daily. You too can achieve good health with practice and consistency.
Wellness is a journey
Wellness is not a destination that you arrive at and then revert to the status quo. Wellness is a continuous process. It is how you live your life. There are no shortcuts, no hacks, no tricks. Wellness should be the status quo.
Moderation is key
As with everything, moderation is key. Too much of the good stuff can be just as harmful as too little of it.
This is meant to be a guide
This is meant to serve as a guide and does not replace advice and recommendations from your medical doctors.
Here are a few simple-to-follow guidelines that would help you maintain and promote good health;
- Drink water
You need about 3 litres of water every day to meet your body’s daily needs. Start your day with a glass of water. Have some water before during and after meals. Finally, have some water between meals. - Eat healthy meals
You are what you eat. Your body needs protein to build new tissues and carbohydrates for energy. It makes use of small amounts of lipids to build cell membranes, certain hormones, and other components needed for you to function. Vitamins and minerals are also important for your body to build necessary tissues and carry out vital processes. - Get good sleep
You need about 7–9 hours of sleep every day. Your body needs sleep just as it needs food and water. Sleep is an active process during which your body repairs itself and carries out other core functions including regenerative repair, and memory consolidation. - Assess your health
It helps to assess your health and identify any underlying conditions that you may have, peculiar health needs, dietary preferences, etc. This way you are better able to determine what special measures you need to put in place for your wellbeing. - Exercise your body
30 minutes of exercise, five days a week is what you need to smash through your week. Pick an activity that you can manage consistently, like jogging, skipping, or Zumba, or a sport like football or tennis, and then do this activity five days a week. - Meditate
Take some time daily to meditate in silence. This helps you gain clarity of mind, it helps you assess your mood and control them better. You also get a better understanding of what is important to you and helps you keep tabs on your priorities even as they change. - Avoid harmful habits
You have come this far on your journey to being healthy and feeling like a million bucks. Now is the time to quit harmful habits. There are activities that when done repeatedly, like a habit, can be very harmful to your health. - Connect with people
We are social animals. At the very core of our being, we want to connect with the people that matter to us. It is important for your well-being that you make time for those people and engage them meaningfully on a daily basis. These would typically include your immediate family and close friends. Sometimes colleagues and co-workers may be included in this circle. - Practice gratitude
It is important to practice gratitude daily. Identify things that you are grateful for and revel in them. Remind yourself how much you once desired these things that you now have and continue to explore new ways to maximize the potential of all that you have. - Write
Writing helps you think better. Even if you do not share your writing with anyone else, the process of moving a pen on paper and letting your thoughts and feelings flow out of your mind helps you think more clearly. - Get a hobby
You can learn an instrument, play a sport, draw, paint, start a podcast or write a book. Your hobby does not have to be something grand. Anything that you enjoy doing for fun is a good place to start. 😊
There is more
You can read more about how to live a healthy life in this easy-to-read guide available via Gumroad or Selar. It includes practical steps for meditating, how to improve your sleep with proper sleep hygiene principles, harmful habits to avoid, and the best way to snack.
If you have any questions, be sure to connect with me via Twitter where I share my thoughts on design, healthcare, and other interesting finds. My Twitter handle is ChikeMD.
Thanks to Chioma Ekeugo, Deborah Adigun, Divine Ajagba, and Jennifer Onwuchekwa for reading drafts of this.
