Six habits that will improve your life

In most cases, during Christmas parties and events we tend to neglect all those habits that we had forged throughout the past year, understanding that we must seek a balance and not see it as a quick way out, or a punishment.

In this case one of the initial mistakes would be to want to submit ourselves to an extreme eating plan to lose as quickly as possible those calories gained, start a fad diet, or some other behavior that endangers our health. We must understand that the most important thing then is to seek that balance and start again, however, the initial idea is never to abandon that balance.

Good habits, optimal health

Below is a series of habits that could help you to have a healthier life and not only focus on diets or good wishes:

See a nutritionist

To implement an eating plan according to your needs.

Consume natural foods

To decrease the consumption of processed and ultra-processed products, to have a balance in the consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, dairy products, animal foods, and fats.

Have a correct sleep discipline

Establish a regular schedule for going to sleep and waking up, avoid excessive alcohol intake 4 hours before bedtime, do not smoke, avoid caffeine 6 hours before bedtime, this includes coffee and some types of tea.

Other points would be to look for a suitable temperature in the room, eliminate as much light as possible, this is understood because there are hormones that are secreted at night in the presence of darkness, among other things, and hence it is important to sleep 6 to 8 hours a day, this for adults, with adequate rest is not the same I went to sleep but did not rest to slept and rested.

Physical activity

The new World Health Organization guidelines on physical activity and sedentary habits in 2021 establish that adults should accumulate a minimum of 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity during the week, or a minimum of 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activities.

Adults should also engage in muscle-strengthening activities of moderate or higher intensity to work for all major muscle groups two or more days a week.

Drink water

This is set at approximately 1.5 to 2 liters, however, this also varies greatly by weight and the number of calories you consume in a day, among other factors.

Mental health

This includes psychological, emotional, and social well-being, which goes hand in hand to a certain extent with reducing stress since stress generates important changes in our organism that affect both our health and our nutrition.

Therefore, leisure activities such as dancing, singing, listening to music, painting, going for a walk, meeting new places and people, among others, are essential, in addition to those already mentioned in the previous points. A positive and resilient attitude towards the situations that happen to us daily will be another key point to maintain balanced mental health.

As a final point, remember that it is very important not only to nourish the body but also the soul.

By Paulina Elizabeth Ochoa Moreno, a professor specializing in disciplines of Health Sciences I. of the UAG.