Why Habit Forming is So Important
Forming new healthy habits is crucial to your overall health and longevity. No big transformations happen overnight. But by incorporating small changes into your daily habits, you can set yourself up for major changes over time. This is where the compound effect comes in, you can add things little by little and start to see a difference before you even know it.
Tip #1: Incorporate Planning
I found that when I got in the habit of planning my week, I was much more likely to get everything I needed, which helps with time management and prioritizing my responsibilities correctly.
I have a weekly planner and I write down the top priority things for each day of the week. On each day I put things like what time I’m going to go to the gym that day, what hours I will be working that day, set aside time for cooking, and any other errands that I need to complete that day. Once it’s written out you’re much more likely to follow that and have your day in order.
Tip #2: Drink H2O
The daily recommended amount of water that you should be drinking varies by person. And once you get into the habit of drinking the amount of water right for you, you start to crave it!
You think I’m just saying that… but being someone who used to dread drinking water, now I cannot get enough of it! I feel so much better when I’m hydrated!!! It seems like something so small, but most people do not consume enough water in the day, and this comes with a lot of negative effects on your body.
Drinking water helps carry nutrients and oxygen to your cells, aids in digestion, helps normalize your blood pressure, regulates your body temperature, maximizes your brain productivity, energy levels, physical performance, and so many other benefits! It’s important to calculate how much water you specifically should be drinking and make sure you hit that requirement each day.
Tip #3: Get Offline and Unplug
Get off your screens! Getting in the habit of Setting aside 30 minutes to an hour a day even can be extremely beneficial to just shut down your phone & shut down all of your screens and be present. During this time you can do things like yoga, reading, or even just being present with those that you love.
The average American spends over seven hours a day looking at a screen. That equates to about 61 YEARS of your lifetime. That’s crazy! cutting back on this can lower your stress levels, improve your sleep, increase your focus, increase your physical activity levels, reduce eyestrain, etc.! and think about all the time that you’ll be saving for other productive things once you schedule a time to shut it down.
Tip #4: Get your Steps in!
It is recommended for each person to get 10,000 steps a day. This adds up to about 5 miles in the day and can definitely be done. This helps you get better sleep at the end of the day, improves blood pressure, helps regulate your blood glucose levels, reduces the risk of heart attack, and increases the likelihood of reinforcing other healthy habits.
Even if you have a desk job where you’re setting a lot, this is extremely important because it will help you to store less body fat, and gain more muscle as well. You can definitely work your way up to this if you’re not doing it now, and you will definitely reap the benefits once you start doing it every day.
Tip #5: Eat One Full Serving of Fruit/Veggies
This is probably one of the most important healthy habits. It’s extremely vital to your health that you get a full serving of fruit and veggies in a day. This increases your energy levels throughout the day as well as ensures that you get the vitamins and minerals that you need to function to the best of your abilities. This also helps with your digestive system, lowering blood pressure, preventing some types of cancer, helping with blood sugar levels, etc. I recommend cutting up a bunch of fruit and veggies at the beginning of the week and putting them in small containers you can bring on the go which makes it easy for busy people when you’re at work or running errands!
Overall
In building new healthy habits, I recommend starting small. You do not need to incorporate each of these tips all at once. But maybe picking one for the week, and then the next week incorporating a new one, and just go from there. You can start little by little but they will add up to both mental and physical benefits in your life! So start this week, write down what you want to start working on and put it up in your room somewhere that you’ll see it every day, go all in and make sure that you’re consistent with it!
