“Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity” – John F. Kennedy.
Let’s be realistic, you don’t need a quote from a former president of the United States to tell you how important physical health is. It’s been sung into your ear right from your elementary school days.
Staying physically fit and healthy is super important, and it doesn’t have to be difficult. For the most part, you just need to make little changes in your everyday lifestyle and you’re good to go.
So, what can you do to improve your physical health? Let’s discuss;
Proper Diet
Are you currently on a diet? For some people, they’ve never been on a diet before all their life. If you’re following a diet, then comes the most important question, is it a proper diet.
You see, a lot of people rush into dieting without understanding their body and knowing what their body wants. When people are dieting, it’s often because they want to lose or gain weight. They don’t start until the situation hits the fan.
That should change. You should follow up on a healthy diet for the sake of being healthy and staying fit. When you diet for the weight-sake, you’re likely to deprive yourself of important nutrients.
While you might get the physical effect you want overtime, it’s either you’re cutting short carbohydrates, taking more protein, or some other nutrients.
The body needs all six classes of food to stay healthy; your diet plan should include all of them if physical health is important to you.
Unless you have some medical condition and your doctor advises against some foods. Otherwise, you shouldn’t deprive your body of vital nutrients for any reason.
If you’ve not been eating right, now is the time to begin.
Proper Exercise
Note the word “proper”. Everyone exercises, the walks you take from home to work, to school, to church, etc, are all exercises. However, not everyone does proper exercise; by this, I mean following a consistent workout plan.
What does exercise do? There are a thousand and one answers to that and they’re not new. The major reason why you need to exercise is to keep the heart healthy and make the body flexible.
Thousands die every year due to heart-related illnesses. Who knows, many spending an hour or two working out every other day would have kept them alive.
What type of exercises should you do? If you can purchase workout equipment at home or subscribe to a gym, it’ll be worth it. Otherwise, you can take morning jogs, cycle, and do some stretches.
The goal here, however, is to be consistent. Not beginning today and in the next 2 weeks, you’ve forgotten all about exercising.
Proper Sleep
Nothing beats a good night’s sleep. As an adult, you need 7 or more hours of sleep to stay healthy. Unfortunately, some people barely sleep for up to 4 hours every night and if you ask why a popular reason would be because of work.
You have to decide. Which is more important? Good physical health or money? Well, if you’re not physically fit or if you fall sick, you won’t be able to do that work. Don’t trade proper sleep for anything.
Some people can close their eyes and by the next minute, they’ll soundly asleep. For others, it might take hours of rolling to get the job done.
One reason why you might find it difficult to sleep at night is stress. You work yourself up all day and then your head is like a party hall when you lay on your bed at night. Nevertheless, there are some tactics to help you fall asleep.
Some of the proven ones include trying to think blankly, playing soothing music, and lowering the room temperature. However, this doesn’t work like magic. The best way to get it right is by creating and following a schedule.
What time do you go to bed? You’ll be disorganizing your body if you sleep early today and then late tomorrow. A good time to go to bed as an adult is 10 PM, 2 hours before midnight.
To ensure that you fall asleep right on time, it’s ideal to go to bed about 15 minutes before your sleeping time. Importantly, watch when you wake; it’s best you set an alarm.
Sleep is important but too much sleep is unhealthy. If you’re going to bed by 10 PM, the best time to wake is 5 or 6 AM.
Drink Water
We’ve talked about how important a proper diet is now, it’s water – one of the classes of food. It’s almost a ritual for people to have a cup of coffee every morning. You can argue that it’s liquid as well but I’ll tell you what, nothing substitutes pure water.
You need to take about 3 liters of water every day and it’s ideal to take it first thing in the morning and also in the night before going to bed. Lack of water results in dehydration. You feel very thirsty every time, dry mouth, dry skin, and dizzy all the time.
Drinking sufficient water every day shouldn’t be difficult. You can simply carry a water bottle along with you or you install a water dispenser at your workplace. As a substitute, you can take fruits with high water content like oranges, cucumbers, watermelons, etc.
Quality Red Wine
Take this to be an open secret; it’s known but not many people take it seriously.
Red wine contains very powerful antioxidants that help the body fight against heart disease, anxiety, colon cancer, and even help improve your memory. Next time you want to purchase wine, get a red wine.
Now, I’m not saying you should get drunk; in fact; you don’t need to take too much. Just a little quantity of red wine is enough to supply all of these health benefits.
If you’re a woman, you need to take even less. Also, you should stay away from red wine if it’s against your doctor’s orders.