Simple Tips For Staying Healthy In 2020

Staying fit and healthy has never been quite so important as it is right now with the Covid-19 pandemic in full swing. So, how do you go about staying fit and healthy, especially if you can’t go out as much as you might like?

Here are our top, simple tips for staying healthy in 2020…

Maintain A Healthy Outlook

One of the best things you can do for yourself is to maintain a healthy and positive outlook. If you need to, take one day at a time. Break it down into smaller chunks. Whether you’re in a strict lockdown that seems never ending, or just finding life a little overwhelming. Don’t beat yourself up if you have a bad day. Each new day is a new clean slate. What happened the day before is something you can learn from but shouldn’t be what defines the next day. Start fresh every morning, new day brings new hope and opportunities. Whether that’s something as small as eating better, drinking more water, exercising more, smoking less…etc. Even the smallest of achievements is an achievement you should be proud of. For example, i’m really bad at drinking enough water. I could easily go an entire day only having a few sips. However, i set myself a goal every day to drink 2 litres. Some days i hit it, and others i don’t. If i don’t, it’s not a big deal, i just try harder the next day.

Goal Setting

I often hear people setting themselves these crazy goals they’ll never reach. You’re just setting yourself up to fail, so why do it? If you set yourself a goal that’s unachievable, you’ll give up before you even begin. It will seem too out of reach so you won’t have the drive to succeed. However, if you set yourself a goal that is reachable, yet still a challenge, when you do reach it, you’ll feel amazing! This feeling of accomplishment will then drive you to keep going and pushing to do better and better.

For example, if you’re trying to loose 200 pounds, setting yourself this goal in a month is NOT achievable! However, break it down and try to loose 2 or 3 pounds per week. Or 10 pounds each month. This makes it seem a lot more doable, so you’re more likely to keep going. Plus, when you do see the results and your regularly hitting your targets, you’ll feel great!

Being Active

Especially for those in stricter lockdown areas, this might seem quite difficult. However, they are plenty of ways you can stay active. It is recommended you try to be active for at least 30 minutes per day. This could be 3 lots of 10 minutes throughout the day, or all in one go. This could be anything from running up and down the stairs for 10 minutes. Or, go out for a walk/run. Dance around your living room. Do some kind of sport if you can. It really doesn’t matter what you do. Just something that will get your heart rate up and leaving you feeling a little puffed.

Eat Nutritious Foods

Eating a well-balanced diet is so important. Although it is important to get regular exercise, it’s just as important to be eating well. Your diet should be high in fruits and vegetables as that’s where you’ll get your micronutrients from. Micronutrients being all your vitamins and minerals your body needs to thrive and fight off illnesses.

If you can, you should also limit your meat consumption. Research studies have shown that in just 7 days of removing meat form you diet can reduce cholesterol levels by up to 100 points! We aren’t saying stop completely, however, if you can, try to eat leaner meats such as turkey, chicken, tuna instead.

Many people think they need to eat loads of meat to hit their daily protein intake. However, ALL protein actually comes from the earth – vegetation, grass, soil…etc. Animals get all of their protein from the vegetation they eat. We then eat the animal to get our protein. So in fact, animals are just the middle men when it comes to getting protein. Research has shown that the protein we can get directly from fruits and vegetables is actually a MUCH BETTER source of protein. It’s cleaner, it isn’t packed with the animals hormones and doesn’t cause fat to clog up or veins and arteries. Even olympic athletes and weightlifters have chosen to go meat free. Since changing their diets they’ve found they can – lift heavier, go for longer, run faster, all because they no longer eat meat.

Reducing the amount of refined sugar in your diet would also be a great place to start. Again, this doesn’t mean stop altogether. We all love the odd treat or dessert after dinner but perhaps not every night?!

Quit Smoking

If you are a smoker, now is the best time to stop smoking. Being that the Corona virus is a respiratory disease, do your body a favour and let your lungs breath and begin to heal. Give yourself the best chance to survive the virus, incase you do contract it.

Lower Your Alcohol Consumption

A glass of red wine with your evening meal is actually meant to be quite beneficial to your body. However, drinking the entire bottle or getting drunk is NOT! Drink in moderation if you do drink alcohol.

Sleep

Getting a good night sleep is easier said than done for many of us. However, getting a good night sleep is so important. Research shows people who get 8 hours sleep a night have much lower levels of stress and cortisol in their body. Some tips to getting a good night sleep are as follows…

• Turn off all digital devices at least 1 hour before going to bed.
• Read a book in bed.
• Stop eating at least 2 hours before bed.
• Put lavender drops on your pillow.
• Take a relaxing bath in the evenings.
• Make sure your bedroom is pitch black.
• Ensure your bedroom is cool.
• If you share your bed, try having separate duvets.
• Wear ear plugs if you’re a light sleeper.

Also, just remember, no one is perfect. We all have good and bad days when it comes to being healthy. No one is 100% healthy 100% of the time. Take it easy on yourself and just do what you can. Yes, these are all simple tips for staying healthy, however, they will take some time to become habit. Apparently it takes 66 days for something new to stick!

Which of these simple tips for staying healthy do you think you’ll stick to?