How to look and feel healthier in 2021 and beyond

Mums Tips

Fitness & Health

Published on Tuesday, 07 September 2021 19:10

Last Updated on 08 September 2021

Monica Costa

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More and more people are beginning to take their health and fitness seriously. Following the pandemic, the limitations of working from home and a reduction in opportunities to partake it travelling or activities out and about, has shown us the impact of a sedentary lifestyle on our bodies and minds. To ensure we look and feel healthy today, there are many steps we can take. Whether we want to lessen the risk of diseases, reduce negative impacts on our appearance, or improve our mental wellness, here are my top health tips for 2021 onwards.

Exercise And Activity
To combat inactivity due to the coronavirus, lots of people have decided to take up outdoor sports and exercise in a safe and socially distanced manner. One of the best ways to combat an inactive lifestyle is obviously to find something that can get you active. While it’s said that regular exercise can help to offset a sedentary office lifestyle It’s important to note that even healthy, daily exercise sessions isn’t a good alternative to making sure you get up and stretch your legs regularly. Prolonged and regular periods of sitting down is really bad for even the most active person, so make sure you get up every hour or so as well as engaging in exercise.

Having A Good Diet
Cutting down on your intake of food with high salt and sugar content is a great start for fixing your diet. Many of us consume much more than our recommended daily allowance, especially when it comes to saturated fats and salts. You should aim to reserve crisps, sweets, biscuits and cakes as treats and try to choose healthier snacks like nuts, fruit, and vegetables to replace them. As well as this, try to add more fibre to your diet too as this helps to regulate your gut health. Keeping on top of your body’s nutritional needs can not only boost the way you feel, but it can also help to improve your appearance and complexion by reducing redness and spots, for example.

Staying Hydrated
You likely have heard about the human body being up to 60% water, so it should seem like a logical step to keep our fluids up. Drinking plenty of water every day helps your body to detoxify by flushing out harmful and waste chemicals, and it can also serve to boost your concentration and productivity. In many cases, it’s reported that staying sufficiently hydrated can reduce your desire to eat, dramatically decreasing the number of unhealthy foods put into your body. According to the NHS, we should be drinking 6 to 8 glasses of water per day and the myth that tea and coffee will dehydrate you has been debunked. So don’t feel like you need to stick to plain water but do try to avoid drinking excessive amounts of sugary drinks as this is going to be counter-productive in the long run.

Dental Care
Taking care of your smile is not only important to your physical health but can also be a great boost to your self-confidence. It can be easy to forget to brush your teeth twice a day, let alone floss, but making sure you look after your teeth and gums is an essential step in avoiding gum disease and tooth decay. These problems not only look bad but can be incredibly painful and damaging to your mouth. Visiting a dentist, or for more specific treatments such as Invisalign for straightening teeth, an orthodontist, is essential to ensure good dental health. If you’re searching for a specialist orthodontist in the Lancashire area who can provide these quality treatments and procedures, then visit smyli.co.uk.

Good Sleep Hygiene
Getting plenty of sleep, no matter what age you are, is imperative to a healthy and happy mind and body. Ideally, all of us should be getting around seven to eight hours of sleep every night. The negative impact of an inadequate amount of sleep can be drastic, so it’s time to take note of whether or not you feel as though your sleeping pattern is in good shape. A lack of concentration can not only risk you forgetting your responsibilities or harming your work or studies, it can also make you more prone to accidents especially when driving and commuting. As well as this, it’s reported that a lack of sleep has a strong link to the development of certain cancers like breast and prostate cancer. Sleep is your body’s way of repairing and detoxifying your organs and muscles, so try to stick to a healthy and regular routine, switch off distracting devices like phones and televisions, and get some much-needed rest.

Adopt A Skincare Routine
An often-neglected step to taking care of ourselves, especially with men, is skincare. Whilst there is a wealth of products to choose from, all claiming to provide your skin with a myriad of different benefits, it doesn’t have to be a complicated system. The main elements you should be considering is cleansing your face, especially after wearing makeup, and moisturising. Our faces should be the most important thing to consider when sorting a skincare routine, as the skin on our faces is much more delicate than elsewhere and tends to get battered by the elements far often than other areas of our body. Most notably, the sun can cause irreparable damage, including burns and skin cancer. Apply a good quality, high-SPF moisturiser before going outside to protect against the sun’s harmful UV rays.

Boosting Your Mood
Our mental health plays a huge part in the way we physically feel, and there are documented links between anxiety and depression and high-blood pressure and even digestive diseases such as IBS and IBD. Meditation and relaxation are perfect ways to bring blood pressure down and reduce our anxiety. Finding your own methods to keep your mental health in check is important, and it will vary for all of us. Some can rectify problems with simple relaxation and reflecting on their lives, but you might also require some assistance from trained professionals or medication. No matter what, remember that taking care of our mental health is as important as ever and good mental health can help to give you the motivation to tackle other aspects of your life such as exercise too.

Responsible Napping
Many people love a good nap in the daytime, especially after a period of intense activity or concentration. Naps are in no way a bad thing, and they can be extremely beneficial to your physical and mental health. But there are some things to be wary of to ensure you get a good nap and not a bad one. For example, you shouldn’t really nap for longer than ten to twenty minutes. Any longer and you’re at risk of experiencing the grogginess of sleep inertia. This is where your brain begins to transition into REM sleep and begins to turn into a proper sleep cycle. Make sure you set an alarm and the chances are you’ll feel refreshed after your short power nap.

Build Strong Relationships
Another aspect to having good mental health is that of the company we keep. Having a strong support network for when life gets tough can significantly reduce the impact of those hardships on your mind and body. Knowing that you have friends around that you can rely on and have a good time with can significantly boost your happiness, reduce stress, improve your sense of self-worth and belonging, and good friends can even encourage you to adopt good habits like exercising, and quit bad ones such as smoking.