Lifestyle Habits to Improve Your Health

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1. Move your body

• Plan active outings with family and friends, such as hiking, biking, or playing sports together. Not only will you enjoy quality time with loved ones, but you'll also stay motivated to stay active.
• Skip the elevator and opt for the stairs whenever possible. Climbing stairs is a simple way to get your heart rate up and strengthen your lower body muscles.
• Stretch your body-Focus on key muscle groups such as the hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, hips, chest, shoulders, and back. These areas tend to become tight due to factors like prolonged sitting, repetitive movements, and physical activity.
• Listen to Your Body: Hold each stretch for 15-30sec. Pay attention to how your body responds to each stretch. You should feel a gentle pulling sensation in the targeted muscle, but never pain. If you experience discomfort, ease off the stretch or modify it as needed.
•        Our society is not always set up for us to be mobile as we sit in chairs, in cars and on our couches at home. Sitting too often can shorten the range of motion for our joints.   Daily joint mobilization such as arm circles and leg swings can help keep our joints limber and ready to do what life calls for us to do.

2. Monitor your breathing.

• A good first check is to notice if you are breathing in and out of your nose or your mouth. Our bodies are designed to breathe in and out of our nose the majority of the time.  Breathing in/out of your nose helps to activate the vagus nerve which plays a key part in the parasympathetic nervous system.  
• When we are under stress, we often hold our breath.  The next time you notice that you are stressed, check in with your breath and see if you are nasal breathing.

3. Monitoring your Nutrition

• Eat whole foods: meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and limit sugar intake.  
• Do you eat the same amount of food on a very active day vs. a day where you are more sedentary?  
• Carbohydrates fuel workouts, so being conscious of the timing that you consume carbs can help send clear signals to your body.  Protein helps our bodies recover from workouts and is best digested in a restful state.
• WATER! Water is absolutely essential to muscle growth and recovery. Strive for at least half of your body weight in ounces for water. For ex. Weight of 200lbs strive for 100oz of water daily. 

4. Find an active community

• If we are wanting to be more active, it’s helpful to be around like minded people as this will help us keep our commitments when our willpower is low.
• Find coaches that can help you stay on track towards your goals, towards the life you'd love to live.
• Check in with who you spend time with.  Are these people having a positive influence on your life or are they pulling you towards unhealthy habits?

5. Be consistent

• What we do most of the time seems to matter more than what we do every once in a while. Strive for a routine so that your brain and body can work together on knowing what to expect which in turn reduces stress. Developing healthy habits takes time and often involves help from others. So again, Find your people!

6. Spend time with yourself

• We are bombarded with notifications, sounds on the TV, podcasts and music on a daily basis. Although each of these things can provide value in our lives, they can also drown out what is going on internally.
• When we sit and pay attention to our thoughts, it can be a fruitful practice to journal as this validates our thoughts and feelings.
• When we are aware of what is going on inside of us, we can construct solutions to our troubles, and connect with coaches that can help us get unstuck.

7. Find time for Fun!

• It is easy to get caught up in our day to day life and work with the day ending before you know it. Carving out time for fun can be a great way to get feel good hormones into the bloodstream and allow cortisol to exit. Find time for your hobbies.
• Look for ways to find humor in your day.  Carving out a bit of time to watch the funny reels sent from your friends or opening those memes from your one friend that always delivers quality ones can improve the quality of your life.

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