If you chase wealth and forget all about health, you will take a lot of money to the grave with you at a young age. The legacy you will leave behind will be "gone too soon." You want to make sure that you develop these 7 optimal health habits.
If you can develop these optimal health habits, you are putting excellent self-care on autopilot. The beauty of developing positive habits is that you grantee that each day you move a little bit closer to your goals.
We thought through all of the different habits you could build to improve your mental and physical practices, and we made a list of the 7 essential habits you need in your life.
Keep your vitality. A life without health is like a river without water. - Maxime Lagacé
What You Will Learn in AThis Article
Why Optimal Health is So Important
If you want to be successful, you'll need to learn how to manage your energy levels. People who succeed know how to maintain high energy levels for long periods. They can wake up early, stay up late, and have an infectious attitude the whole time.
If you are suffering from physical or mental health issues, it will hurt your energy levels. Here are some of the things that are harmed by low energy levels.
- Productivity
- Attention to detail
- Focus
- Motivation
- Endurance
If all of these things are operating at suboptimal levels, you're going to get poor results, and you don't want that.
7 Optimal Health Habits
Here are the 7 non-negotiable health habits that you need to build into your life. All of these play a huge role in your physical and mental health. These also have the power to completely change your mood and boost energy levels.
1. Hydration
Your body mostly consists of water. The best thing you can do for it is consume more of the substance it's made of. When you wake up in the morning, you're naturally a bit dehydrated after not consuming any water for the past 8 hours. Drink a glass of water right away and notice how it revitalizes your body right away.
Decide how much water you need to feel good but not so much that you always have to pee non stop. Once you get the right amount, make it a habit to consume that much water every day.
2. Stretch
Stretching is a habit that many people will be surprised to see on the list. Stretching can help both your physical and mental health.
It helps you physically because it relieves tensions in your muscles and improves your range of motion. It helps your mental health because it helps to relax the mind.
Stretching is best done after physical activity, after a shower or right before bed. It's a great time to get in some TV or entertainment to help you to further relax.
3. Workout
Working out has the most physical and mental benefits of everything on this list. Working out helps you to burn calories and keep your body in shape. Working out also can help you decrease your stress levels by giving you something to take your frustrations out on.
The human body was made for movement. Sitting in front of a computer all day is not natural. It may not feel like it at first, but the body appreciates progress. The more you move, the better you think physically and the more mental benefits you receive.
4. Eat Until Content
As a kid, you were probably forced to finish all the food at the table. The good thing about this is that you don't waste food, but the bad news is that you often eat until you're stuffed.
Be okay, walking away from the table when you're content. Remember that if you eat slower, you will give yourself time to realize how full you are. Doing this will help make digestion easier.
5. Get Your Greens
Eat as many vegetables as you can. It does not matter if you're vegan, paleo, or any other diet. The important thing that all healthy diets have in common is that you need to eat your veggies.
Find a way to add veggies with every meal. A straightforward change will mean you're eating a lot less of other foods that are not as healthy.
6. Meditate
Take 5-30 minutes a day to just sit down and meditate. There are so many different forms of meditation and apps that help guide you through. You don't need to be alone when you begin to meditate.
The key here is that you take some time to unplug and focus on your thoughts. It's time to dream and desire, time to pray and ask for forgiveness, and time to just let your mind wander. Meditation is so good for your mental health.
7. Limit Sugar Intake
Sugar plays games with your energy levels. It can make you feel like you have a lot of energy, but it almost always comes with a crash. Sugar also makes food taste better, so it's in nearly everything you eat.
One of the best things you can do is limit your sugar intake. Have just enough to enjoy the small things in life but otherwise get rid of it. Stop buying it as much as you can, and see how much better your energy levels are. It will become easier to focus, as well.
How to Develop Health Habits
One of the best ways to develop any habit is to Habit Stack. Habit stacking means using habits as cues to begin new habits instead of waiting on an external signal. For example, you may not think of drinking water until you get the external cue of being thirsty. By that point, though, you're already a bit dehydrated.
If you habit stack your hydration, it means you built it off of something you already do. Like waking up, maybe after you finish brushing your teeth, you drink a glass of water to start the hydration process.
Here is the Habit Stacker system to follow!
- Stack - Figure out what habits you want to stack
- Start - Start your habit stack right after you wake up and you will never miss it
- Schedule - Block time in your day for practice
- Show-up - Be there daily for it
For example, you may wake up, drink water, and then decide right after that you're going to work out. The point of the habit stack is to get as many habits done in that period as possible.
Keep Improving Your Optimal Health Habits
The last part of having optimal health is that you're always looking to improve. Maybe you're looking to see if you should be drinking more water, or seeing how you can push yourself more on your workouts.
The point is that you need to keep getting better. As you get in better shape, you will need to make adjustments. You could also go through different life stages, like getting married, having kids, or retiring, which can bring different levels of stress.
Through all of these changes in your life, you need to keep your health habits at the highest levels possible. That is how you become great. You never settle, and you always look for the next step.
Conclusion on Optimal Health
Adopt these 7 optimal habits to make sure that you are doing everything you can to have a body and mind that can last for the long haul. There is no point in building wealth and not being able to live long enough to enjoy any of it.
The Habit Stacker 4-step-system will help you to develop habits. Then you need to have the right mindset to maintain them and keep improving on them so that you don't get stuck in a rut.