What is the best way to stay healthy?

 

What is the best way to stay healthy?

6 factors that will help you maintain a healthy lifestyle

Following a healthy lifestyle means living in harmony and taking care of your health to have a better well-being. In this, it is essential to incorporate good habits that can allow you to avoid developing diseases and improve your quality of life. It's about making real changes and taking action that will help you feel and live better.

The National Institutes of Health establish that making new and healthy habits part of your daily routine can help you feel better about yourself. These habits not only protect you from health problems, but they keep you more energetic and more active. In addition, they strengthen you and allow you to spend enough time taking care of yourself and having fun.

1. HAVE A BALANCED DIET FOR A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Choosing a balanced diet is one of the best ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle . It is important to obtain all the essential nutrients that your body needs for vital functions. It is advisable to eat a wide variety of foods that provide vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates, proteins and fats in adequate proportions.

The WHO points out the following guidelines for an adult who wants to maintain a balanced diet :

Include at least 400 g (that is, five servings) of fruits and vegetables a day

Do not exceed 50 grams of free sugars

Do not exceed 30% fat of daily caloric intake

Less than 5 grams (about a teaspoon) a day of salt, which must be iodized

In summary, increasing the amount of vegetables and reducing the consumption of sugars, fats and salt is an excellent start to improve your health. To illustrate the anatomy of a healthy plate, Harvard University has designed the Healthy Eating Plate or Harvard Plate , which you can use as a guide.

2.PERFORM REGULAR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

A healthy lifestyle is associated with regular physical activity. It provides many benefits for your health and helps you feel better. Being physically active helps you have more strength and balance. In addition, it increases your ability to move and move around and reduces your stress levels. For that, you don't need intense exercise sessions. Just doing activities you enjoy like going for a walk, jogging, or dancing is enough.

The World Health Organization recommends doing moderate physical activities for at least 150 to 300 minutes per week. Also, you can choose to practice muscle strengthening activities. Like, for example, lifting weights or doing push-ups to exercise all parts of your body.

The health authorities recommend doing a minimum of 30 minutes of physical exercise a day as one of the main ways to develop a healthy life.

Among the benefits associated with exercise, the following stand out: burning excess calories, strengthening muscles and bones, controlling blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels, as well as contributing to the elimination of stress and helping to sleep better.

3. ADEQUATE SLEEP HELPS MAINTAIN A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Getting a good night's sleep is important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle . Sleep, in addition to being a pleasure, has positive effects on your body. This is necessary for your mind and body to be healthy and for your general well-being. In addition, sleeping well increases your motivation and willpower to face daily demands.

Sleeping well brings 6 main benefits to your body. These are:

Increase your creativity. A good rest makes memory work well and imagination is more powerful.

Regenerate your immune system. This allows you to protect yourself from toxins and germs.

Improve your memory. Sleep strengthens neural connections and helps transform short-term memory into long-term memory.

Protect your heart. During sleep, stress levels, blood pressure and heart rate are regulated, which favors heart health.

Reduce depression. Rest relaxes your body and facilitates the production of melanin and serotonin. These substances help you to be happier and emotionally stronger.

4. CONTROL STRESSFUL SITUATIONS

Stress is a feeling that can affect your health. It is a physical and emotional tension that affects the way your brain and body respond to any demand. This can alter the functioning of your body and develop serious health problems such as headaches, insomnia, sadness and even chronic diseases.

For this reason, it is important to learn to control stressful situations in order to lead a healthy lifestyle . The first step to feeling better is to identify the cause that generates stress. In this way, you can look for a solution to the problem. Keep in mind that the key to good stress management is to develop your emotional strength. With this, you can be in control of the situation, relax and adopt a positive attitude.

5. ENJOY SOCIAL ACTIVITIES AND RELATIONSHIPS

Assuming a healthy lifestyle largely depends on the environment around you. Therefore, social activities can help you increase your levels of satisfaction and have better stimuli at a cognitive level. These promote healthy behaviors and positive relationships with your environment. In addition, they improve your health and self-esteem, and allow you to learn to manage stress and increase your quality of life.

Participating in activities of social contact is essential for the health of your body and mind. You can choose to attend events in your community and look for groups or clubs of your interest to share. Also, invite a friend over for coffee or something to eat. The idea is to take advantage of special activities to enjoy, have fun, and improve the relationships in your life.

6. MAINTAINING A HEALTHY BODY WEIGHT IS KEY TO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Maintaining an adequate body weight contributes to good health now and in the future. The key to achieving this is not related to following a healthy diet in the short term. It's really about leading a healthy lifestyle that includes good eating and exercise habits. Mainly, balanced nutrition, regular physical activity and a balance between the calories you consume and use.

In addition to diet and physical activity, a good rest contributes to maintaining a healthy body weight. In general, people who get too little sleep tend to weigh more than those who get enough sleep. Therefore, it is important to have good sleep hygiene and get enough rest each night. These actions will help you reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and high blood pressure.

Taking these factors into account is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle . The idea is to incorporate them as habits in your daily life and improve your well-being in general. These will not only promote a good state of health, but will help you feel better and live fully.