The best way to have a good health is to make healthy choices everyday. This means exercising, eating right and getting a good night's sleep.
Keeping up with all these health guidelines can feel overwhelming. Luckily, most "rules" aren't one-size-fits-all mandates.
Exercise
Exercising has been shown to improve brain health, reduce your risk of several diseases, boost your mood, and keep you feeling and looking great. It also helps you sleep better and maintain a healthy weight.
Exercise includes cardiovascular conditioning, strength training and flexibility to improve and maintain the health of your heart, lungs and muscles. Getting the recommended 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise, spread throughout the week, is important to overall health and well-being.
Start small, gradually increasing the amount of time you spend exercising as you get used to it. It’s better to do 5 or 10 minutes a day than nothing at all, and it’s easy to add more as you feel ready.
Exercise can also help you manage your mood and decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety. It produces changes in the parts of your brain that regulate stress and anxiety, and increases your body’s sensitivity to the hormones serotonin and norepinephrine, which relieve feelings of depression and anxiety.
Eat Right
A healthy eating plan - which includes a variety of foods from all the food groups - can help you manage your weight and prevent disease. It also can provide the energy you need to be physically active.
You can eat well by eating fruits, vegetables, lean protein foods and whole grains at least three to six times a day. Choose low-fat or fat-free dairy products and drink water instead of high-calorie drinks.
Make wise choices at the grocery store and avoid foods that are highly processed, like candy, ice cream, fast food and snack foods with added sugars or saturated fat.
Choosing foods with less sodium and sugar can help you reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity. Cut back on saturated and trans fats as well.
Sleep Well
Getting a good night's sleep is crucial to your health. Without it, you'll feel tired, irritable and less focused than usual.
It's also important for your mental health, as it helps you to relax and calm down. If you have mental health issues, such as depression or anxiety, it can be more difficult to get a good night's sleep.
To help you get the rest you need, make a commitment to a regular routine. This means going to bed and waking up at the same time each day.
Take Care of Your Mouth
You may not have considered it before, but your mouth plays a huge role in your overall health. It’s essential for eating, speaking, smiling and showing emotions.
When you don’t care for your teeth and gums properly, they can deteriorate and lead to other health problems. These problems can be serious, including cavities (holes in your tooth enamel) and gum disease.
A good oral hygiene routine, which includes brushing and flossing your teeth daily and seeing your dentist for a checkup every 6 months, can help prevent these problems from happening in the first place.
Maintaining good oral health can also reduce your risk for other health problems like heart disease, diabetes and pregnancy. And it can improve your self-esteem because healthy teeth and gums are important to how you feel about yourself.