Influencers of Health
No, not the people. The other stuff.
Lifestyle Choices
Lifestyle choices refer to an individual’s decision to engage in behaviours and habits that positively or negatively influence their health and well-being.
3 Lifestyle Choices to Modify Today
Emily Roberts, Verywell
Sleep
Create a consistent sleep schedule and ensure you are getting adequate hours. Sleep impacts your well-being as illustrated by Emily Roberts.
Start by ensuring your sleeping environment is one that promotes better sleep. Create a wind-down routine that excludes electronics. Ensure you have the right pillow(s) for proper body alignment. Check out this post on how to find the perfect pillow.
Stutz’s Life Force Model
Move
Get your body moving. Engage in regular physical activity.
In the documentary “Stutz” psychotherapist Phil Stutz explains how simply modifying your physical activity, diet and sleep can initially improve how you feel by 85%. The pyramid illustrates one’s Life Force - relationship with your body, people and self. It reminds me of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which also highlights how basic needs must be met in order for one to attend to other needs.
This advice doesn’t mean you don’t need to sign up for a gym and lift weights five times a week. Start simple. Walk around the block or follow a YouTube exercise video for 15 minutes. The important part is you are no longer leading a sedentary lifestyle and you are MOVING. You got this!
alcohol
If there is one part of your diet you should try to modify, it’s cutting back on alcohol. I reckon this advice is anathema, but it has such a huge impact on our body I have to include it in my top 3 lifestyle modifications. If you want to learn about the impact of alcohol on your each part of your body, read this article by VeryWell. They do an excellent job of detailing the short-term and long-term effects of alcohol on the body and include the minimal benefits.
I’ll be honest, I still struggle with maintaining proper sleep hygiene, feeling motivated to get my butt out of bed, and I enjoy the occasional drink during holidays. But the small changes I did make have made me feel significantly better and that is why I am sharing these lifestyle modifications with you today. Let’s live well.
